Ann Quinn
Final Deployment is out from Finishing Line Press. It is "about" life, death, parenting, with a subtext of how the Vietnam War affected one American family. Yes, you can buy it from amazon but I too will ship it free AND I will sign it personally, just click below and support an independent business (and contact me via the contact form to let me know how you'd like it personalized).
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From the hills of San Diego to the Live Oaks of Pensacola come poems of a sympathetic imagination. We follow the child of a naval aviator, during the Vietnam era, to the woman she will become. Self-reflection starts in the mind and ends on the page with clear bold words that are trailblazers for a world otherwise unnoticed. Quinn links the arteries of the past with perception and experience that become a moral arbiter – a heart clutching read – each moment in this poet’s history is a sensory one with daydreams and acoustics that come alive interpreting, not imitating, the world. This is what real writing is: spirit and sense, decent loving, an inimitable life, the shining accomplishment of a major debut.
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Grace Cavalieri
“The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress”
Ann Quinn’s poems deftly navigate the “essential in between” moments: the rich silences between words, a child’s slow shift into hard, adult truths, the ever-unknowable passage from life into death. At the same time, her work celebrates the sensuous world with joy and curiosity. Elegaic at core, the poems in Final Deployment are also full of musings on art, precisely conjured memories, tender and fleeting moments with children, and above all, a love for the world in all its mystery and beauty.
– LIA PURPURA
This book came from a Poetry is Life class offered by Yellow Arrow, which has been running monthly since 2020. In 12 chapters corresponding to 12 monthly sessions, you can experience parts of the workshop yourself or just enjoy our words. Read poems easily found on the Internet by beloved poets from William Blake to Terrence Hayes, and from Elizabeth Bishop to Tracy K. Smith. Then, study the prompts—drawn from close analysis of the well-known poets—included in each chapter, so that you can create your own poems. As you read the resulting work from our “Poetry is Life” group, you will see how each voice, including yours, has a unique offering.