Sixty

by Mariann Wizard

Poems, like flowers, unfold in mysterious ways. Poet Mariann Wizard's 60 personal best reveal surprising details of a complex, engaged life. Deeply personal yet readily accessible, they are by turns... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1430317264
• ISBN13: 9781430317265
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Lulu Press
• Length: 100 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

There and back again

Mariann and I were high school classmates, back in the early 60's in Ft. Worth, Texas. We worked together on our school's literary magazine. Even at that early age, all those years ago, her writing talent blazed, both in poetry and in prose. There was never any doubt that she had places to go, things to do, someone very impressive to become. Our paths diverged after graduation. She moved to Austin to attend UT (fall of 1964). I was already married with a baby. We lost touch. Almost 40 years later, we reconnected. It was as if we had never been out of touch. She was herself, squared! I was in awe of her life experience and her prodigious talent. She had lived the life I would have loved to live, but never had the courage to do so. Having lived through the premier Baby Boomer years and gathered a wealth of diverse experiences, acquaintances, and friends, Mariann always wrote, gathered thoughts, created amazing poetry during good times and bad, good relationships and bad. Finally, Mariann's "Sixty" has come to realizaion. How lucky you will be to receive and read your copy of this wondrous book, illustrated with the amazing photos of Scout. You may not know Mariann personally like I do, but most especially if you are a contemporary of hers (and our numbers are legion), these poems will resonate in your heart and spirit like they did in mine. Get ready for an amazing ride!

The beauty of times and places

My interest in this book is that it is about terrain I know in both geographical (SW US; Mexico) and temporal (boomer generation) terms. That interest has been rewarded by both Wizard's word pictures and Stormcloud's photos. "To Austin," more commonly known as "Sweet Suck City," is a classic in some Texas circles and here it is put on dead trees in a more permanent form than the underground press. I wonder if she will now quit writing it? Probably not. It's about a process of creation in tension with destruction that is still going on. It's one of several poems about growth and how it destroyed what made Austin Austin. "How convenient," Wizard says elsewhere, "to live in a city with its own asylum!" I won't dwell on the erotic aspects of Wizard's work here, although I did when I read it. I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality of the photographic reproductions. I've seen Stormcloud's work before and I know she's good but I doubted that the color and composition would come though adequately in this format. Several photos (Misty Grove; Aloe Landscape) beg for more space, but the flowers work very well. How would this book strike someone of another generation from, say, New England? While I like to think beauty is beauty, I can't see this work with any eyes but my own.

Love is Courage is Love

Sixty. Quite a milestone and thinking back and forward, comes with the question of what maturity is and maybe wisdom. Makes the question a sensuous one as well as radical, political. Very natural. Mariann has been one of those people who has always been a leader who led with heart. I have met a lot of people involved with politics but not many with more real courage. Her poems show this in different dimensions, again leading the way to a mature vision for a generation that still has yet to fully resolve issues that came to us along our way. I was struck first, by love poems that came off the page like langorous deep soul pillow talk that was like seeing for the first time, after many years that aspect which might be like an out of body experience of the mind of the other, quite sexy. She deals with the great experience of our time, Vietnam and the military, and the radical rebel experiences of subversive free thought and having great heart to give to help others bravely, frankly and with wisdom. Doesn't pull punches, but lovingly so. No Limit, 60. Good title. I find myself wanting to talk more of this pillowtalk with this woman.