{"product_id":"lifting-stones-doug-stanfield-9781578690756","title":"Lifting Stones: Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"A widower presents a poetry collection about grief and love. The first section of this emotional book, \u003cem\u003eMemories\u003c\/em\u003e, explores the 'dusty, not-quite-living museum of our lives.' Some of its recollections are quite recent, such as in \u003cem\u003eLove in the Time of Corona\u003c\/em\u003e, which finds the speaker partnerless, sheltering in place, and eating frozen vegetables during the Covid-19 pandemic. In another poem, he compares navigating love to crawling through an electric fence: 'You finally learn how it feels \/ to be knocked silly with almost no warning, \/ and find yourself lying, alone, on your back, \/ stupefied.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe second section, \u003cem\u003eGriefs and Losses\u003c\/em\u003e, centers on themes of mortality as the speaker revisits the end of his wife's life and wonders what his own posthumous legacy will be. The final \u003cem\u003eTurning Points\u003c\/em\u003e section contemplates the 'absurd time-travel odyssey' of life in general and the arbitrary ways of nature, weather, and death. The author ends with a meditation on his unknown future, which he imagines as a mix of beautiful experiences and temporary happiness. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eConsidering it all, though, he concludes that it's appropriate to 'Rejoice.' Stanfield's observations on love and loss are authentic and insightful. Regarding dating disappointment, for example, a speaker asks, 'Which is wrong: \/ The reality or the expectations?' Of enduring relationships, he wisely muses, 'No vulnerability without trust, \/ no trust without truth \/ no truth in a tight grip.' He's also delicately honest about death; a speaker recalls how, in the moments after his wife died, he was 'amazed at the quiet \/ and stillness the soul leaves behind.' The poet's descriptions of physical places are also evocative, as when the moon paints 'a wrinkled, twinkled streak \/ on darkened waves.'...\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA lovely, relatable set of poems for the heartbroken and helpless romantics.\" --Kirkus Reviews\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Doug Stanfield\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1578690757\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781578690756\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Rootstock Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/08\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 108\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.73lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.38d","brand":"Doug Stanfield","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44051862520063,"sku":"9781578690756","price":25.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_f605bfb3-da34-48ec-8485-a4b94996e5a0.jpg?v=1685015616","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/lifting-stones-doug-stanfield-9781578690756","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}