A BRIGHT FORGETTING IBD

Sinopse

A Bright Forgetting is part of BowmanâÇÖs journey of care for her parents and of remembering them and her family. It is an exploration of how to say goodbye.áIt is an elegy for what her parents and grandparents built, and what was rent, torn, or is tearing.áThis family fragmentation simply reveals how as humans,áall our lives are synapses firing bright with beauty and memories- a bird takes flight, a child leaves, a boy finds a girl, a home,áa family grows, thrives, travels, divides, misunderstands, then age and death unfurl a final banner- the panoply of hope, longing, and forgetting.áThe poems use family history, cherished travel memories, close description of family members and relationships to investigate what it means to be a family, and to discover more about oneself in the process.áItâÇÖs about the poignancy of transience, including the Spanish Surrealists yet using the deep image and leaping image, the poet holds fast to the memories, reflections, and dreams of that bright firefly flash of life.áThese types of imagery were used by, among others, the poet Robert Bly. He looked to and translated many world poets, including the Spanish Surrealists, mostly unknown to Americans in the 1950âÇÖs.ááThis approach to poetry, enables Bowman to tap the inner places of the heart even in the vastness of American landscapes like the Grand Canyon or in the small high crags of a mountain or her grandmotherâÇÖs farm.