Romanyshyn Succeeds in Creating a Tender Hospitality
February 6, 2015
I look forward to enjoying the audio presentation of the conversation between Robert Romanyshyn and Brian Tracy, as I was unable to attend last evening's webinar. I read, with great interest, Mary Alice Long's blog reflections on the evening's discussion, noticing, not for the first time, that Robert's decades-long commitment to the work of soul in the world has inspired so many of us. Having recently found myself in the great company of his newest publication I was claimed by his ability to bring his reader to a realm of deep being. I share my review here.
In Robert Romanyshyn's Leaning Toward the Poet: Eavesdropping on the Poetry of Everyday Life, quiet gifts of longing and remembering float elusively from page to page. Romanyshyn's poetic images, both offerings and seductions, beckon the reader to bear witness to the elegance of the ordinary. Be prepared to enter an enchanted domain in which a hummingbird flits excitedly at the tease that she may become the recipient of a dream intimately shared. Or sadly, be one with a trapped monarch, Romanyshyn's "winged king, an obligation to the dark lord of the underworld." In this worthy collection of poetry by a renowned psychologist, both poet and readers participate in the creation of a tender hospitality. Moments that are too often forgotten are re-imagined and enlivened by the act of bearing witness. For readers who have found a homeplace in Bachelard's poetics of reverie or Oliver's quiet celebration of the natural world, this is your book. For those drawn to the elusive and sometimes dark world of soul, or longing for the cultivation of a poetic sensibility toward life's experience, then Romanyshyn's eavesdropping provides a radiant portal. This book will delight.
(Mary Harrell's Review Posted on amazon.com, Feb.2, 2015)
