Shade and Shelter

Mary Ricketson's Shade and Shelter I cherish for its naturalness, the words as wind, sometimes wild, sometimes caring, always solid as a stone-wall at sunset, real as the dirt beneath the feet, ephemeral as one monarch butterfly.

Shelby Stephenson, Poet Laureate of North Carolina, 2015-2018 author of Elegies for Small Game, Press 53, Paul's Hill: Homage to Whitman, Sir Walter Press, and winner of the Roanoke-Chowan Award.

In Mary Ricketson's Shade and Shelter, the speaker eloquently ponders "how the world ticks / and what to do with [her] one chance" in a bold, nature-filled voice. Poison ivy, trillium, past hurts, new loves all appear and are seen, wide-eyed and with bravery, as the reader vicariously travels along the trail, "too narrow for two."

Rosemary Royston, author of Splitting the Soil, Finishing Line Press

In Mary Ricketson's aptly named collection, Shade and Shelter, "all four winds blow wild" the winds of remembrance, confrontation, acceptance and healing. Ricketson brings us along on her journey into nature as that windy place where "a million ferns hold hope for the future". As do these poems.

Dana Wildsmith, author of One Good Hand, Iris Press, Back to Abnormal, Motes Books, and Jumping, Ink Brush Press