Amnesia and Awakenings by Cristina Norcross
Local Gems Press, 2016
Cristina Norcross has published yet another astounding collection of poems. Her chapbook Amnesia and Awakenings opens the reader’s third eye to the lovely realities that pass us by daily within our joys and our sorrows. Norcross uplifts readers’ spirits through nature, aging, and even death.
Norcross knows nature. Once again, she has listened to tree, stone, and animal and let them speak through her pen. She paints with the colors of nature in her poems, giving images that are “brighter than the deep yellow burning in the sky.” In “Where Green Lives,” her anaphora “This is where green lives” leads each stanza, followed by stark images of life inside a pond: “soft, petal-like leaves— / little floating islands / on their backs. Transfixed— / they gaze at willow tree fronds— / long fingers caressing / the heads of seekers.” Her words’ serenity is divine, a walk in the forest.
Aging is often seen as an inevitable despair, but Norcross does not see it this way. Aging is beautiful:
A woman’s torso extends to fill space.
Age walks—
it wanders into wisdom unknowingly
and finds the longest book to read.
We may be here awhile,
says the body.
Take root,
grow windows
and look out.
Age is not just a number. Age is wisdom; age is seeing and feeling more. With age, she says, “The spirit spins with greater light, / despite heavier loads,” by which she means the heavier loads brought on by changes such as love and motherhood. Within a few poems, we see her love with her husband blossom through letters, especially in the final stanza of the poem “Write Me Another Letter”:
Like the body of land
that parts us,
my lips part
when sealing a note.
For too long
our only connection has been paper.
My pen glides and searches for you.
If only I could conjure your eyes—
The look you gave me at the train station—
The last look before parting.
Write me another letter.
I will look for you.
Norcross proves once again within this collection that she knows how to write a love poem. Journeying with her through aging encourages readers to reflect on their own lives in a positive light when they look at where they’ve been, are, are going. There’s no need for rose-colored glasses; reality really can be astounding.
Even death is not darkness but rather a renewal. In the title poem, “Amnesia and Awakenings,” Norcross makes a last breath something to embrace: “Somewhere along the line, / amnesia must have set in. / This is the awakening. / This is when the clock starts.” She also dedicates an inspiring poem to Maya Angelou, written from Angelou’s perspective. “You Are Boundless” ends with a calling:
You must all carry on
in my name.
Keep your heads held high.
Don’t forget to look up.
I’ll be there—
Shining on,
Shining strong.
In Norcross’s view, loss does not have to be all about suffering. Life does not end when the heart stops; people move forward with beauty and strength. I highly recommend this collection and all of Norcross’s previous collections.
Kathrine Yets works as a nightshift librarian and adult student tutor. She will soon receive her master’s degree in education, then continue on to inspire young minds to be avid readers. Her reviews have appeared in Gently Read Literature, Verse Wisconsin, Mom Egg Review, and Blue Fifth Review.