Review of Living in a Poem by Tom Norman. I loved the slim volume of poems by Tom Norman. The poems varied from stories about his own life, his family, the town he grew up in, places he lived, and his absolute love of nature. Tom’s poems ask the big questions. What is our purpose in life? How do we make sense of our life? How do we come to know our purpose? Who are we? What is our place in this world? What can we learn from nature? He is able to take little things such as swimming in a river and uses this to make the reader think about the direction of his/her life. Several poems jumped out at me especially “Four Pole Creek” and “Punkin Moon." One phrase from “Order Out of Chaos” resonated with me
We all do this
Pull together stories, images,
gathered from everywhere,
from anytime,
to piece together into a
picture that makes sense to us.
Perhaps only to us.
For comfort. For
meaning.
I read his first book The Green Mountain a few years ago and was impressed with it. Do yourself a favor, especially if you grew up Ceredo-Kenova, the hometown I share with Tom, take an afternoon in the backyard and read his poems. You won’t be disappointed.
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