At the Edgelessness of Light

by James A. McGrath

'These poems express my 75 years of experiencing the world as a child, adult, teacher, artist, son, father, husband, lover, a poet,' says James McGrath. 'I have spoken with stones, clouds, bugs, ghosts, a grandson, Native American elders, a mother and father, students, ex-wife, and friends in Greece, Japan, Yemen, Santa Fe, and my birthplace, Tacoma, Washington. I care about what and how I write while letting the poems speak on their own, in their own time. A poem may come in a meeting with Natalie Goldberg, David Whyte, Joan Logghe, Morgan Farley, Sharon Olds, a friend in a local writing group, at a stoplight, on the Hopi Reservation, in the middle of the night in my home, with a group of artists at the Congo River, at Coole Lake in Ireland with my daughter, on a beach in Leros, in the Dodecanese, in India, or in a classroom of children in Seoul, Korea. Each time, place, thing, or person is sacred. And what does the edgelessness of light mean? It means that place where love and light are a vibrant, gentle, lonely place where the tides of feeling and understanding move in and out with constant illumination and exposure of what is important in the moment before fading, leaving the edgeless shadow of a poem. Writing a poem is my way of blooming, bearing fruit, decaying and returning to that edgelessness of life with a word of praise. I try to share a revelation as I have glimpsed it. When something I have written is felt by you, that for me is a blessing.'

120 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2005