Piano in the Vineyard

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          Once again, Jean Janzen writes mighty poems, finding those heart-stopping human moments for which there is no adequate language. Janzen, a National Endowment for the Arts winner, begins this newest collection of poetry with “Wailing in the Shower” and these arresting stanzas: “After the elation of giving birth, our new daughter fed and sleeping, I stand under the warm water and begin on the high notes– Madame Butterfly’s ecstasy, One fine day in May, the harmony sliding over my body. After the loss of his bride, our friend turns on the guestroom shower and begins his long wailing. It echoes through the house, flows down the stairway, his baritone cries rising and falling. Over and over, the full octaves.”           And she goes on to mark the full-throated human experience, placing her 42 poems into these sections: “Broken Places,” “The Garden,” “Carving the Hollow,” and, finally, “Piano in the Vineyard.” In every poem Janzen is utterly conscious of the unspeakable wonder and terror of being alive. Jean Janzen is a winner of The Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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