Kristine Karol Hartvigsen

To the Wren Nesting Kristine Karol Hartvigsen

To the Wren Nesting meanders through two decades of creative experimentation by a self-taught poet who came late to the dance but continues to learn new steps in her post-midlife years. Subjects here have been harvested with life's widest butterfly net from across the spectrum - anything that moved the writer's spirit to expression. These poems tell stories launched in random moments such as passing a sexy stranger on the sidewalk, having a spontaneous wave of grief after viewing a news clip, buying a book from a vendor on a Manhattan street corner, dreaming about a Frank Lloyd Wright dog house and a 19 percent raise while on pain medication, or - yes - discovering that a pair of Carolina wrens have set up house on your front door wreath. They run the gamut from dark and brooding to meanderingly reflective, heartfelt to humorous and even teasing as they depict stories grounded in moments from everyday life.