How easy it is, how easy,
for the brain to trick us
into wiping pain away,
into thinking you’re here at my door,
or in the kitchen by my side, sipping
at the mug, sighing at the early hour,
calling my name, your
mouth at my ear.
How easy, how easy.
--Old Habits
Thelma T. Reyna
 |
| Golden Foothills Press |
What do you do when your beloved husband
of
50 years and 8 months dies undergoing a minor surgery? Poet laureate Thelma T. Reyna turned towards the written word.
Thelma lost her beloved husband
Victor two years ago. Her grief was unbearable and immeasurable, but life goes
on and unfortunately, she had to march with it.
“I wish the wife back then knew clearly what the widow now knows…about
impermanence, about ensuring that our loved ones know clearly and unfailingly
how much they mean to us, how much they enrich our lives, because we’re telling
them regularly, with heart and soul.”
Heartfelt. Piercing. Loving.
DEAREST PAPA: A MEMOIR IN POEMS celebrates the man, the lover, the father, the friend. Thelma divides the book into five stages – not of grief, but of life. Beginnings shines a light on their college romance, their shared love of poetry, their marriage, their children. Endings contains the pain and emptiness of death for the living. Mourning is the start of her journey pass the grief into acceptance. Balms and Resolutions are witness to her strength and courage to go on with her life, and find solace in her memories, her family, in nature and in her poetry.
“In my small book here, I attempt to show how these threads of life are
interwoven, with relationships evolving and surviving as love, family, and
nature line up to mitigate the stab of loss. It is a modest memoir of my
husband’s life, and our life together, as well as a tribute to his goodness and
devotion.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Thelma T. Reyna’s books
have collectively won 14 national book awards. She has written 6 books: a short
story collection, 2 poetry chapbooks, and 3 full-length poetry collections,
including DEAREST PAPA: A MEMOIR IN POEMS.
As Poet Laureate in Altadena, CA in 2014-2016, she edited the ALTADENA
POETRY REVIEW ANTHOLOGY in 2015 and 2016. Dr. Reyna’s fiction, poetry, and
nonfiction have appeared in literary journals, anthologies, textbooks, blogs,
and regional media for over 25 years.
She was selected as a “Top 10 San Gabriel Valley Poet, 2016” by Spectrum
Publications and was a Pushcart Prize Nominee in Poetry in 2017. She also won the “2011 Women in Business
Award, Most Inspirational” for her work as an author, presented by California
State Assembly and State Senate legislators for the Pasadena district. Dr. Reyna
has curated and coordinated numerous poetry readings of fellow Southern
California poets, organized literary panel presentations for special events,
and is a professional editor. She received her Ph.D. at UCLA. Visit her at www.authorthelmareyna.com.
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