House in Love Country - Patricia Bassel - Bog

House in Love Country is a poetry collection that carries us through childhood, coming of age and adulthood with an intense search for love. A literal and metaphorical journey to the far reaches of the senses and the heart of memory, in this house, juxtaposing the warmth and comfort of family and its inevitable loss, we long to return to our first loves: the natural world, pets, play and life on the farm. Inexorably we give birth to new loves like art, Billie Holiday, travel, and the deeply-rooted human desire to break free. (Love even leads us into the kitchen where Proust casts his spell.) Deaths occur but the primary emphasis is on repeated renewal -- not just the will to start again, but the freedom to do so. Many poems have a strong feeling of the American West, a mix of tribal, cowboy and agrarian cultures. Paris, Nice, Amsterdam, San Juan and Kyoto also become part of the journey. We search for truths on "rough terrain and slippery rocks" and discover "the power of nature lies in its tender words and delicate touches." Like Chagall, House in Love Country takes us "off the interstate" to a full, open life of adventure, discovery, loss, and love in its multitude of expressions.