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Where Water Meets the Rock
In her fourth collection of poetry, Where Water Meets the Rock, Lindsey Martin-Bowen explores loss and recuperation in three sections. “Erosion,” the book’s elegiac opening sequence, laments a trinity of tragic Greek personas: Pasiphaë, Psyche, and Antigone. The middle section, “Frenzies,” a series of zany poems, emulates the ensuing topsy-turvy world that follows deep loss. And finally, “On the Shore” completes the triad, concluding that by re-seeing and re-building life, one can heal the psyche and the spirit. Once again, through the use of her recurring sea-rock metaphor, Martin-Bowen has employed a poetic technique that effectively maintains both a visual and auditory descriptive style, which, according to New Letters editor Robert Stewart, is defined by her “refreshing reliance on imagery and understatement.”
- GenresPoetry
100 pages, Paperback
Published July 18, 2017
About the author
Lindsey Martin-Bowen
19 books18 followers On June 29, 2022, Pierian Springs Press released Lindsey Martin-Bowen's fifth poetry collection, The BOOK of FRENZIES.
Where Water Meets the Rock, Lindsey Martin-Bowen’s fourth poetry collection, was released July 18 (39 West Press 2017) and was later nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Her third collection, CROSSING KANSAS with Jim Morrison (in chapbook form) was a semi-finalist in the QuillsEdge Press 2015-2016 Chapbook Contest. In late 2016, Writer’s Digest gave her poem, “Vegetable Linguistics” an Honorable Mention in its 85th Annual Contest (Non-rhyming Poetry Category). “Bonsai Tree Gone Awry” in her second poetry collection, Inside Virgil’s Garage (Chatter House Press 2013) was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. The book was also a runner-up in the 2015 Nelson Poetry Book Award. McClatchy Newspapers named her first collection, Standing on the Edge of the World (Woodley Press) one of the Ten Top Poetry Books of 2008, and it was nominated for a Penn Award. Paladin Contemporaries released three of her novels, Hamburger Haven (2009), Cicada Grove (1992), and the latest, Rapture Redux (2014). Her poems have run in New Letters, I-70 Review, Thorny Locust, Amethyst Arsenic, Bare Root Review, Coal City Review, Flint Hills Review, Rockhurst Review, 11 anthologies, and other literary magazines. She taught at University of Missouri-Kansas City 18 years and teaches at MCC-Longview.
Previously, she was a full-time reporter (The Louisville Times in Colorado, The Johnson County SUN) and magazine editor (Modern Jeweler Magazine, The National Paralegal Reporter). She holds MA and Juris Doctor degrees.
Where Water Meets the Rock, Lindsey Martin-Bowen’s fourth poetry collection, was released July 18 (39 West Press 2017) and was later nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Her third collection, CROSSING KANSAS with Jim Morrison (in chapbook form) was a semi-finalist in the QuillsEdge Press 2015-2016 Chapbook Contest. In late 2016, Writer’s Digest gave her poem, “Vegetable Linguistics” an Honorable Mention in its 85th Annual Contest (Non-rhyming Poetry Category). “Bonsai Tree Gone Awry” in her second poetry collection, Inside Virgil’s Garage (Chatter House Press 2013) was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. The book was also a runner-up in the 2015 Nelson Poetry Book Award. McClatchy Newspapers named her first collection, Standing on the Edge of the World (Woodley Press) one of the Ten Top Poetry Books of 2008, and it was nominated for a Penn Award. Paladin Contemporaries released three of her novels, Hamburger Haven (2009), Cicada Grove (1992), and the latest, Rapture Redux (2014). Her poems have run in New Letters, I-70 Review, Thorny Locust, Amethyst Arsenic, Bare Root Review, Coal City Review, Flint Hills Review, Rockhurst Review, 11 anthologies, and other literary magazines. She taught at University of Missouri-Kansas City 18 years and teaches at MCC-Longview.
Previously, she was a full-time reporter (The Louisville Times in Colorado, The Johnson County SUN) and magazine editor (Modern Jeweler Magazine, The National Paralegal Reporter). She holds MA and Juris Doctor degrees.
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August 5, 2017Lindsey Martin-Bowen dedicated this book to “four superb women poets who have encouraged me both by their words and actions.” I’m incredibly honored to be in that list. However, I don’t feel I can give an unbiased rating. Instead, I’ll simply mention a few of my favorite poems to give you a taste of her collection.
Martin-Bowen offers a wide range of topics including family, in memoriam tributes, and fresh retellings of literature, Bible, and myth. One section of the book is devoted to zany poems she calls frenzies. You might expect a much darker tone overall based on my favorite selections. “Your Last Christmas” (for her father) resonated with me. She begins
“Under holly boughs and smells
of evergreen, you sit in an old,
decrepit chair and warn us
you’re on your way out.”
She imagines her dad as John Wayne heading out on a wagon train, and ends
“I pray this is just another role:
a man growing old, moving west
toward that eternal precipice.
So I change the subject
to Christmas stockings,
mistletoe left hanging,
smells of myrrh and mincemeat,
a chill in the air
I can’t shake.”
“After Reading Milosz” refers to Cheslaw Milosz’s “The Poor Poet,” from Selected Poems Revisited, which I haven’t read. One needn’t know that poem to understand that her last stanza is a powerful commentary on our times and on what it’s like to be a poet:
“It’s like this: even if the massacres I’ve seen
appear solely on small screens, their stench fills
my nostrils while I limp down this empty street.”
Martin-Bowen offers a wide range of topics including family, in memoriam tributes, and fresh retellings of literature, Bible, and myth. One section of the book is devoted to zany poems she calls frenzies. You might expect a much darker tone overall based on my favorite selections. “Your Last Christmas” (for her father) resonated with me. She begins
“Under holly boughs and smells
of evergreen, you sit in an old,
decrepit chair and warn us
you’re on your way out.”
She imagines her dad as John Wayne heading out on a wagon train, and ends
“I pray this is just another role:
a man growing old, moving west
toward that eternal precipice.
So I change the subject
to Christmas stockings,
mistletoe left hanging,
smells of myrrh and mincemeat,
a chill in the air
I can’t shake.”
“After Reading Milosz” refers to Cheslaw Milosz’s “The Poor Poet,” from Selected Poems Revisited, which I haven’t read. One needn’t know that poem to understand that her last stanza is a powerful commentary on our times and on what it’s like to be a poet:
“It’s like this: even if the massacres I’ve seen
appear solely on small screens, their stench fills
my nostrils while I limp down this empty street.”
September 13, 2017
I wrote and submitted it. So I must love it.
But I'm biased. The collection contains many poems that have appeared in excellent literary magazines--and one of those poems won an Honorable Mention in the 2016 (85th Annual) WRITER'S DIGEST contest.
But I'm biased. The collection contains many poems that have appeared in excellent literary magazines--and one of those poems won an Honorable Mention in the 2016 (85th Annual) WRITER'S DIGEST contest.
March 14, 2026
I enjoy reading poetry collections that include a common thread that links all the poems together. The common thread for this collection is loss and recuperation. This theme is relatable to everyone as we all suffer loss in various forms throughout our lives and we are forced to recuperate whether we want to or not.
The collection is divided into three sections: Erosion which explores the slow build up to loss; Frenzies which seeks to unravel the immediate chaos and emotion that follows loss; and On the Shore which delves into the slow path to acceptance and continuation.
The poems are unique and make use of various techniques to either exaggerate or bring out the humorous side of deep emotion and complex thought patterns relating to loss.
A poem that resonated strongly with me in Erosion is titled Psyche in the Suburbs. For me, this poem exposed the conflicting emotions of love, resentment, and self sacrifice that arise when caregiving for aging relatives.
This is the final stanza in this poem:
"Now, lavender scents fill the air,
sending me to the Aegean Sea.
When I step onto the asphalt,
I remember the bottled water.
I must go back. Without it,
the world will know her face
grows old. And she'll blame me."
Another poem in this section I especially related to is entitled My Bones are Glass. I have often thought this same thing when dealing with the elderly and aging. The poet includes an apology to Mark Strand, one of my favourite poets, so the style also worked very well for me.
Section 2: Frenzies, includes a lot of humour relating to people's eccentricities and wants in their final moments. The poems also touch on the need for the observers to fulfil every desire and make the passing easier - perhaps to alleviate the guilt of survival. I enjoyed the poems although humour in poetry is not my personal favourite style. This section lifts the tension in death and loss and will appeal to most readers.
Section 3: On the Shore was very compelling for me. It explored inevitable change and endings coupled with new beginnings of a different sort. I reminded me that we move from one phase to another in our lives without even realising it until we look back and the end and beginning stand out in stark reality. The poem I enjoyed the most in this section was Two Mothers with Kids in Winchell's. Perhaps because my children are now adults and have both finished school so I can understand and appreciate this poem through the lens of a soon to be empty nester.
This is one stanza in the poem that I strongly related to:
"The Winchell's mothers nod, talk in buzzing hums,
eye their toddlers, who hop, slide on linoleum.
The kids scratch glass, balance on window ledges.
The pregnant one smooths seersucker. "Guys," she says,
"They don't like that here. Come, be quiet, Sit down."
Like seatbelts, her words rein them in. I frown,
wonder how she renders her voice firm but not loud."
As a mother who always worked, this stanza fills me with thoughts about what might have been had my own path taken me along a different path. What kind of mother would I have been had I not always been struggling to balance work and home demands. A writer who can introduce such reflections has to be great.
I highly recommend this compelling collection.
The collection is divided into three sections: Erosion which explores the slow build up to loss; Frenzies which seeks to unravel the immediate chaos and emotion that follows loss; and On the Shore which delves into the slow path to acceptance and continuation.
The poems are unique and make use of various techniques to either exaggerate or bring out the humorous side of deep emotion and complex thought patterns relating to loss.
A poem that resonated strongly with me in Erosion is titled Psyche in the Suburbs. For me, this poem exposed the conflicting emotions of love, resentment, and self sacrifice that arise when caregiving for aging relatives.
This is the final stanza in this poem:
"Now, lavender scents fill the air,
sending me to the Aegean Sea.
When I step onto the asphalt,
I remember the bottled water.
I must go back. Without it,
the world will know her face
grows old. And she'll blame me."
Another poem in this section I especially related to is entitled My Bones are Glass. I have often thought this same thing when dealing with the elderly and aging. The poet includes an apology to Mark Strand, one of my favourite poets, so the style also worked very well for me.
Section 2: Frenzies, includes a lot of humour relating to people's eccentricities and wants in their final moments. The poems also touch on the need for the observers to fulfil every desire and make the passing easier - perhaps to alleviate the guilt of survival. I enjoyed the poems although humour in poetry is not my personal favourite style. This section lifts the tension in death and loss and will appeal to most readers.
Section 3: On the Shore was very compelling for me. It explored inevitable change and endings coupled with new beginnings of a different sort. I reminded me that we move from one phase to another in our lives without even realising it until we look back and the end and beginning stand out in stark reality. The poem I enjoyed the most in this section was Two Mothers with Kids in Winchell's. Perhaps because my children are now adults and have both finished school so I can understand and appreciate this poem through the lens of a soon to be empty nester.
This is one stanza in the poem that I strongly related to:
"The Winchell's mothers nod, talk in buzzing hums,
eye their toddlers, who hop, slide on linoleum.
The kids scratch glass, balance on window ledges.
The pregnant one smooths seersucker. "Guys," she says,
"They don't like that here. Come, be quiet, Sit down."
Like seatbelts, her words rein them in. I frown,
wonder how she renders her voice firm but not loud."
As a mother who always worked, this stanza fills me with thoughts about what might have been had my own path taken me along a different path. What kind of mother would I have been had I not always been struggling to balance work and home demands. A writer who can introduce such reflections has to be great.
I highly recommend this compelling collection.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews