Season of Flowers and Dust

Book excerpt: Season of Flowers and Dust explores through poetry a seasonal cycle of fall, winter, and spring in the Pacific Northwest. The close observations found here in fall and spring poems and winter sonnets offer readers a strong engagement with the natural world.¿A tango of heart-stringsthrows an awning of notesbetween them and the night.Matt imagines he should go to river¿s edge,and dance, and watch.¿ ¿from ¿Descent Into Light¿¿Not since the writings of Robert Hass and Barbara Hurd has there been a poet who so tributes the natural world in poetry. Gregg Mosson follows the strange stars of our seasons with the attention of a birdwatcher and passion of a lover. His human responses create a brilliant tapestry of snow, sky, and leaf, detailed like an article of faith. Reverence to nature is as ancient as time, but what remains is the poet who touches this territory the way the wind sings our language.¿¿Grace CavalieriPoet and producer of ¿The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress¿ "Gregg Mosson¿s Season of Flowers and Dust carries me into a universal season, one with subtle sensuality and the veiled love and violence which life holds. These poems have just the right blend of spirit, light, darkness, and as Marianne Moore would say, `Real toads in imaginary gardens.¿ ¿¿Carol FranksPortland State University