Fruit Box Castles by Jennifer O'neill Pickering

Fruit Box Castles by Jennifer O'neill Pickering

Rilke's Letter to a Young Poet, he asks, if you had nothing, no sounds of the world coming to you, would you not then still have your childhood, that precious, kingly possession, that treasure-house of memories? Jennifer's book stays true to Rilke's treasure-house of childhood, exploring the richness of a youth growing up in California's farmland... an island of yard/surrounded by oceans of trees. Jennifer Pickering's poems bring us home.

-Robert Stanley, Poet Laureate Sacramento 2009-12

What a pleasure it was to read Jennifer's work. Sometimes I simply sat back after reading a poem and said aloud, Wow Her descriptions are shot through with originality and love. In one of her most powerful poems The Alchemy of Grief, she writes, In theory we begin our journeys at birth. Travel backwards moving forward. Take that journey with her in Fruit Box Castles.

-Wendy Patrice Williams, In Chaparral: Life on the Georgetown Divide, California (Cold River Press) Bayley House Bard and Some New Forgetting. Her prose is published across the U.S.

This collection illuminated with a sense of place: farms, orchards, family, Mom midwifed rows of freestones...winter Mother sews hope into gingham curtains. There is much to delight in the sensory: stubbled fields, perfume of pears. Hard labor is honored, planting, harvesting, summer saved in jars. And working in a cannery: Hands that burn from sweet juice...where jobs were scarce as shade. Morning light poured across the wooden planks, reminds one of Vermeer.

-Jeanine Stevens is the author of, Limberlos, a six-time Pushcart Nominee and the winner of the national poetry award from WOMR.

Jennifer has worn many hats including that of teacher, proof reader, Technology Specialist. While she's retired most of these there are two hats she wears every day-- that of a literary and visual artist. She grew-up in northern California and lived in Buffalo, New York, where she studied art and writing at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo. There she had the honor of interviewing Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Gwendolyn Brooks. She also first exhibited her art work at the university at a Black Mountain College reading and art exhibit. She is a featured poet and essayist at the online website, entitled, Restore and Restory: A Peoples History of the Cache Creek Nature Preserve. I Am the Creek, was selected, with seven other poets, for the site-specific sculpture, entitled, Open Circle in Sacramento. Other publication credits include: Sacramento Voices (2014) PoetNews (interviews and poetry), Tiger's Eye Journal (poetry), Cosumnes River Journal, and Yellow Silk (Oakland). She studied art and writing at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo and then later received an MA in Studio Art at C.S.U. Sacramento. Her award-winning visual art is featured in Moon Mist Valley, 13th Moon (S.U.N.Y. Albany) Poetsexpresso, News&Review, Cosumnes River Journal, Blue Moon Literary and Art Review Sacramento Bee, and other publications. Her art was also, featured on the poster for the exhibit, Creating Freedom: The Art and Poetry of Domestic Violence Survivors. Jennifer's visual art has been exhibited in many Sacramento galleries including: The Verge, Fe Gallery, Crocker Art Museum, Robert Else Gallery (CSU Sacramento), California History Museum, CSU (Sacramento) and a national traveling show: PTSD Nation, Capitol Public Radio, S.U.N.Y. Buffalo, KVIE Public Television, Channel 10 News and the Sacramento Bee. In 2013, she was awarded a grant from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission to compile and edit the anthology entitled, Sable & Quill: The visual art and writing of writers who are also artists. Awards include the best California State Workers Poem and honorable mention for a collection of poems and short stories, entitled, The Farmlands Stories, Five Quarterly. Her prose, the Improbable Cat Lover was published by Harlequin, in The Dog with the Old Soul. She makes her home in northern California with her family. Contact Jennifer through her blog sitehttp: //jennifersword.blogspot.com/or jenniferartist@gmail.com, Facebook

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781646623112
ISBN 10	1646623118
Title	Fruit Box Castles
Author	Jennifer O'neill Pickering
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Finishing Line Press
Year published	2020-10-16
Number of pages	46
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.