Storm Farmer
Collected Poems
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Cushetunk Falls We never tire of the murmuring water the soft rumbling roar of Skinner’s Falls or long days on the rounding shore all rocks and sand and Delaware River. Languid in the simple summer sun we wrap the hours in ripe cherries as conversations drop on the wind our laughter stretches out behind us rides over the tumbling waters. We stay past the sun setting beyond the bridge, past dusk until our chatter stills like birds, so we might hear those who came before, very long, long ago. Their voices sigh over the rocks, rush beneath the eagles final evening flight a faint murmur of remembered people telling their lives along this sage river. Their watery call holds us to balance lifts off unending songs of current songs of us as nature, wild as Lenne Lenape steady as the soft whisper of Cushetunk Falls.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Storm Farmer, Collected Poems is a beautiful offering from the creative mind of Tracey Gass Ranze. Expressing life through the lens of her heart, the poems leave a reader immersed in the full emotion of an experience. Whether it is about a Van Gogh painting or a peace march, one feels profoundly touched. This book, with selections from over 30 years of writing, conveys the poet’s open spirit. Storm Farmer, Collected Poems, moves powerfully through six chapters of verse, entrancing one to feel the moment, recognizing the extraordinary in the ordinary. Gass Ranze’s poetry explores farm life, the loss of her mother, the mystical, 9/11, war, love and wilderness. These poems peer into the invisible web we share, delivering a frank, genuine perspective. The anthology presents vibrant poetry that will stir you to tears, laughter and reflection. Storm Farmer, Collected Poems, “gives me a reason to keep reading poetry.”
About the Author
Tracey Gass Ranze (goss ran’-zee) weaves words vividly into story and song in her debut book, Storm Farmer, Collected Poems. In a lucid and imaginative voice, she infuses verse with a distinct style of rhythm, emotion and rhyme. Articulating in a variety of poetic forms, including pantoum, Dada, sonnet and villanelle, she connects nature, people, events and spirit. With intuitive candor, she illuminates her life’s view of marriage and family, loss and vision, earth and social justice. Gass Ranze is a member of the Upper Delaware Writers Collective (UDWC) and the Milanville Poets, UnLtd. (MPU). Her poetry appears in diverse publications, including five chapbooks of the UDWC: Gatherings, Collective Memory, Wheel, PoeTree and Leaving the Empty Room. The MPU are published in the High Watermark Salo(o)n literary and art series, Vol. 2, No. 4, Over the Banks. Gass Ranze has been a guest poet at the Wayne County Arts Alliance, and featured on Public Radio WJFF programs: Jeff Horse, Gift of Peace and Ink in the Air. Her poetry has been performed at various venues, from San Francisco to New York City. Gass Ranze enjoys working as an itinerant teacher of the visually impaired, and designer/printer of silkscreen artwear in her family’s cottage industry. Her poems appear on several t-shirt prints. Living in the mountains along the Delaware River, she and her husband, Mike, have been raising their four sons, Cole, Leif, Sage and Skye. Gass Ranze describes her poetry as, “strongly influenced by the river, its hills and dales, fresh water flows and exceptional wildlife, especially the people.”