First Drafts from the Brewery explores the ends, and beginnings, of relationships, the value of true-blue friends, and the delights of the seasons. Less a how-to guide to divorce, and more a long and lingering porch-chat complete with good beer or a strong whiskey, this collection embraces simplicity while staring down pain without flinching. But not to worry, there's plenty of cats, puppies, and cozy blankets.
...the kind of collection we need to see. It straddles the boundaries between universality and confession, between sophistication and accessibility so deftly that those who think they don't love poetry might find themselves lost in its pages. Ultimately an exploration of many griefs, these poems are also dedicated to a return to self in body and in spirit: "My happiness is mine/ and no one owns it/ but me." At times playful, at times meditative, at times rife with disappointment, First Drafts from the Brewery is a collection that fights to and succeeds in "creak[ing] out/ of ... bed and beat[ing] back/ stagnation, again."
--Kate Fallon, author of two books of poetry The Toothmakers' Daughters and Demoted Planet.
In The Meantime, A collection of poems, is divided into three sections that each focus on life, loss and love and how those three concepts work together in order to create an experience of a full existence.
This heartfelt collection of poems reads like a litany of affirmations and a celebration of the ordinary things we take for granted every day. There is sadness here; of course, but it is handled wish wisdom and compassion. We read poems to remember what makes us human, and Rowena Carenen’s, In The Meantime, A Collection of Poems, is a virtual manual for how to live a good life. Read these poems and learn how to savor every moment!
--Marjory Wentworth, South Carolina Poet Laureate