The Measure of Small Gratitudes by Ann Menebroker

The Measure of Small Gratitudes
ann Menebroker
Kamini Press 2011
ISBN 978-91-977437-7-8
order@kaminipress.com


"i'm old style, honey
wax paper wrapped sandwiches
and odd smelling lunch boxes
with handles, a thermos
with o.j. and gin, a banged-up
old portable radio once belonging
to an aunt of mine, playing songs
from the thirties and me, lighting
a cigarette from the matchbox
my mom got from "windows on the world"
when she flew to new york, alone
telling her children we didn't spend
much time with her, had dinner
at the world trade center and got
a little drunk at age seventy-nine."

Menebroker takes the small experiences that life offer so freely
and without any cost, she makes a poem that resonates universally:

"illness is such a distraction, so he puts
headphones on and listens to music
which is also a way to get to go other places.
his dentist has offered it as well as his
surgeon. when he takes the one he loves
into his arms there is music, but also
through its osmosis, a giving back
of the delectable and perceived beat
and the measure of small gratitudes."

Kamini Press has given us the reader another small gem, chapbook full of insight and clarity. The book will make a cherished gift for the poet lover.

irene koronas
poetry editor:
Wilderness House Literary Review
www.whlreview.com
reviewer:
Ibettson Street Press