BLACK HOLLYHOCK, FIRST LIGHT by Judyth Hill

Book Review by Laura Stamps
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Lucid Moon Poetry Website, www.lucidmoonpoetry.com

2001, 89 pages, paper, $12.00, ISBN# 1-888809-23-X (La Alameda Press, 9636 Guadalupe Trail NW, Albuquerque, NM 87114)

Aren’t we blessed to walk this earth as poets? Occasionally, a book comes along to remind us of this gift. BLACK HOLLYHOCK, FIRST LIGHT by Judyth Hill is not only a beautifully produced book but also a magnificent collection of poetry. La Alameda Press prides itself on producing artistically attractive books, and the gorgeous painting of a black hollyhock by Joseph Biggert featured on the cover is a shining testimony to this unique philosophy of poetry book publishing.

Judyth Hill is a poet from New Mexico, popular across the Colorado Plateau for her powerhouse readings. This is her seventh book of poetry, which is a collection of poems written from her studio at Rockmirth, a canyon homestead situated on 100 acres of sculptural gardens and natural habitat that she shares with sculptor John Townley.

In A MATTER OF INDIVIDUAL DROPS she writes, “It’s a matter of attention. / A poet’s job is to stay not busy. / That’s the work, that’s how you know what the weather is.” Yes, this is an enchanting collection about gardening, birds, and the joy of being a poet, laced with a strong dose of Hill’s exceptional sense of humor. The poem GARDEN PARTY is a good example: “Planted peas. // Three kinds of lettuce, lechuga, / Corn early and late, sunflowers to go with. / Some dill. Left space for radishes. // …The dead are all around us, breathing on our seeds. // When planting, I feel them, a hand on my shoulder, / A suggestion. But my ancestors weren’t gardeners! // Their advice, confusing, odd: Read Ovid. Wear a hat. / Study Lucretius. Write your sister. // Stop with the romaine and buttercrunch, already. // Listen to us, listen, then water.”

Don’t let the simplicity of these poems fool you. Hill’s craftsmanship is impeccable, and her wordplay a delight. In MORE OR LESS, BY NOONLIGHT we learn, “First hummer heard, rush to fill feeders. / A primary day: blue sky, red insistence, flock of goldfinch. // From these, comes the possible.” Or this wonderful passage from UNDER SHANDOKAH in which she tells us, “Walking to where falling water makes four sounds. / We find a glade tuned to the truth in a pocket of pond. / It’s the inner loom of the forest, hung with webs and willows weft, / a fluff of seed and scatter.” In Hill’s world, the line between man and nature blurs; in “NACIMIENTO, NERUDA she writes, “If only your green eyes flecked with sun / did not buzz and hum all night / to the ragged shore of morning. // If only this mountain was not so much like the sea, / rising and falling on our breath, / and these hills, forgiving themselves over and over into valleys.” And time is no longer counted in years, but in birds. UMPTEEN BLUE JAYS LATER is a good example: “Twelve years, thirteen whoopers, sandhill cranes, / and conversations always stopped / by the swoop of redtail. // Many pine siskins later, / hooded junkos and the one time only oriole. / We’re older. Maybe wiser, / but certainly richer in magpies and starlings.”

Ultimately, Hill’s advice to poets is best expressed in these first lines from EVERYTHING ASPIRES in which we learn, “Tufted ear squirrel at the feeder, / keeps cautious outlook, feasting on seed. / Then scampers off, startled / by some shift in the landscape I’ve missed. // I don’t miss much these days. / I’m a tuning fork to the winds.” What fun! This book is a pleasure from cover to cover.

Laura Stamps is the author of more than twenty books of prose and poetry. Hundreds of her poems, short stories, poetry book reviews, and interviews have appeared in literary journals, magazines, anthologies, and broadsides, including The Louisiana Review, Ibbetson Update, Poesy Magazine, Lummox Journal, Curbside Review, Lucid Moon Poetry Website and Poetry Motel. Her most recent poetry book is b>Restore My Soul (2002, Kittyfeather Press).

Laura Stamps, P.O. Box 212534, Columbia, SC 29221-2534, laurastamps@mindspring.com. If you would like to reprint this review or post it on the website, please email me: Laura Stamps (laurastamps@mindspring.com)