Rose Petals Falling in the Grand Canyon: New and Selected Poems

Jan Zlotnik Schmidt's new poetry volume, Rose Petals Falling in the Grand Canyon, holds treasures that offer finely drawn observations and insight. Each poem invites additional readings for even deeper connections, with the work and with ourselves. In four focused sections, filled with poems old and new, Jan Zlotnik Schmidt offers studies of our humanity through love and loss, memory, the grieving process, and place, both physical and emotional. In her most ambitious book to date, this volume will remain a major literary achievement enabling us to understand who we are. -Laurence Carr, author, Strides: Reflections on 6 Acres and Pancake Hollow PrimerJan Zlotnik Schmidt is a close observer of life, the dying and the art we make in words and images. She speaks of her father in his "last days" as he "stared at specks / in the air reached for them / as if [his] body had turned to dust / and [he] were gathering [himself] in." In this collection of new and selected poems, Schmidt undertakes her own journey of gathering in: stories of love and loss, memories evoked and imagination inspired by paintings, and grief, both personal and passed down through generations of Jews. She is guided by two questions: "Where will her stories take her? / When will her journeys end?" Her readers will be rewarded by her close attention to detail, and her words that cause us to see and feel deeply. -Kate Hymes, Ulster County Poet Laureate 2024Jan Zlotnik Schmidt's poems are like "wings / of an origami bird once pressed tight / then unfolding." The exploration of art, history, and family relays new meaning through the poet's eye for detail and image. These are poems of curiosity and cultural relevance, realities and dreams that speak truth. Schmidt carries it all inside "the creases where the meaning lies," delicately, but with great skill. This is a book that calls readers to "let the world breathe and dream in you." It is a call we should all heed. -Sandy Coomer, author, The Broken Places