As we read Sitting in the Shade of My Own Tree, we feel the fullness of time, a life lived in the close company of others. Here are the poems of strong woman, a poet who brings grace and beauty to open our hearts to the familiar; the voices of family members, the importance of friendships, the pleasure of literary connection and the gravity of politics. "Death is such a sneak," Streznewski tells us, just before she writes, "I sit in the driver's seat." In her amazing poem Granddaughter's Moon, we are taken "far inside" a new-born child, a home, a neighborhood, the universe. What gifts!-Myra Shapiro, author of Twelve Floors Above the EarthWhat peaceful pleasure Sitting in the Shade of My Own Tree gives me. Marylou Kelly Streznewski writes with the gentle wisdom of family love and ripe old age. As one of her speakers reflects, "I have bargained with the Hag / bartered with the Old Man and / earned the right to stand here in the sun." These are poems to savor and return to. They cast a glow on the soul.-Lynn Levin author of Miss PlastiqueThese poems chronicle a disappearing America, and the hope and heartache of having lived through the Twentieth Century. Simultaneously nostalgic and forward-looking, Sitting in the Shade of My Own Tree looks unflinchingly at the world with a mix of humor and pathos and explores the possibilities of language to get it right. These are poems of human frailty and human hope.-Gerry LaFemina author of Little Heretic
