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by Francey Jo Grossman Kennedy (Author)
The poems of Acorn Rain tell a story through the lens of memory, quietly tender, joy and sorrowing loss -- celebrate lived experience. The collection invites the reader, sometimes into a child's world of questioning confusion -- moving towards reflections of deeper understanding of the past. The loss of loved ones make former daily routines symbolically significant, whether games, songs or prayers.
Almost memoir when read together, the poems reveal a story of post Depression parents and World War II childhood. Perhaps, poems connect the reader to more questions than answers. Practicing nightly blackouts, rations, while noticing military photographs in the neighbor's windows --- all part of a puzzled child's early years. But young brother's Marine military service during Viet Nam War brings serious concerns -- stirring conflict.
Uncertain moments of "what next?" played out in family of proud Yankee Dad from Western Pennsylvania Steel Country who brought his rural Southern Alabama bride to live in the North. In a time when a long distance phone call was a luxury, travel miles to "home" for Momma was hardly a possibility. She planted morning glories and told her children of "red dirt". They did not necessarily believe her. She longed for "her people."
Losses over time inevitably present deeper questions of mortality. Each loss may bring even past recall of child's confusion toward more sure adult compassion. The writing of Acorn Rain presents Spring's joy after Winter's dark, while the poems sing of gratitude and call readers into the present.
