Retrievals

The theme of this new collection of fifty poems by veteran poet Ruth Moon Kempher (b. 1934) is the preservation of memories through imagery. Using the energetic tonal shifts and riffs of jazz, Kempher manages to salvage and preserve what essentially cannot be saved. Old photos, old dogs and old lusts come alive, glittering and gleaming in her poems as if the lines were embedded, like fine Indian cloth, with tiny mirrors. Kempher is a poet's poet whose work is much admired by her contemporaries. Her work never shies from humor and ambiguity. She delights in every texture, taste, color, shape, sound and aroma, and readers may share the experience through her poems. Ruth Moon Kempher continues to reside in St. Augustine, Florida, where she owns and operates the notable King's Estate Press. This is her thirty-fourth collection of poems.