TAKE A CLOSER LOOK

Poems by Lois Hayward, edited by Kurt Mueller
Trade paperback: $15.00

D E S C R I P T I O N

Lois Hayward was a lifetime lover of the natural world and gardening. When she wasn’t on her knees tending to her plants or helping out a distressed insect, she was collecting detritus everywhere she went. She treated each curiosity as a holy relic…or a poem. This habit began when she was a little girl taking walks with her father and continued to the very end of her life. The poems span decades of experience and detailed observation, covering everything from childhood memories to summer thunderstorms, but the centerpiece of the collection is a litany of thirty-two poems that take the reader on a vivid and unsettling journey inside a Supermax prison.

E X C E R P T

Come on in. It’s safe.
Please come in.
We are all in this together.
Come into this shadow land where we correct sinners
in hopes of our own salvation.
No, no, I do not expect you
to stay long or come again—
unless you want to. For now, suspend disbelief
and walk with me. Experience
life in a concrete cocoon.
Not to worry: after the tour
we will come back, but not quite
to the same place.

                                                  Please come in…