Between O and V

Between O and V by Maria Scala (Friday Circle, 2008)

I want to give a big shout out to my friend, the talented poet Maria Scala, who has published a lovely collection of her poems. I met Maria on-line through Descant magazine while I was blogging for the magazine and she sent me some insightful and supportive comments about the topic I had written about.

Maria was also one of the inspirations for this blog because when I came across Maria's blog, August Avenue, it was so attractively done and interesting yet also personal. Her natural warmth and kindness and artisitic sensibility shone through in her writing. Now she has her own book of poems that you may purchase here. The poems reflect the best of marriage and family and love and loss.

My favourites are A Story For You, At 70, a poem about an elderly relative recounting a robust encounter with their newlywed spouse and the comic consequences.

Nonna speaks of loss and how, we women, particularly women of our own Italian background, cope with the loss of family and pain. We literally work through it with the many endless tasks that make up our lives.

Now I am married is a love poem to a sometime absent spouse and the joys of sharing a bed with the person you love.

It ends with my favourite I Never Meant To - a sad, sweet poem which seems to be a nostalgic elegy for a bygone love.

So auguri Maria! Please keep up all the great work and all the good that you do every day as a talented poet, a devoted mother, an accomplished editor and a wonderful friend!

Please Note: I could not find an image of my friend to post on-line but I did select a lovely photograph called "date night at beppo's" from a new artist I came across at the Riverdale Art Walk named Tanja-Tiziana who has her own website doublecrossed.ca.