Advent Days and Poems of Remembrance

These twenty poems hold two seasons in their pages: the quiet waiting of Advent and the tender ache of remembrance. Kate Seymour MacLean, a Canadian poet of considerable sensitivity, crafts verses that move between the window-lit anticipation of winter's holy days and the private act of honoring those who have passed. Her voice is intimate without being precious, contemplative without slipping into sentimentality. The collection pulses with the particular quality of light in late December, that blue-grey glow that makes memories surface unbidden. Whether she writes of candles, of absent beloved, or of time's passage, MacLean demonstrates a poet's gift for making the specific feel universal. This is a slim volume, but one that rewards slow reading, each poem a small room to inhabit. For readers who find nourishment in brevity and who appreciate poetry that doesn't demand but invites, this collection offers quiet company on short days.