The Blue Divide by Linda Nemec Foster
The poems in this exquisite collection, The Blue Divide by Linda Nemec Foster, reflect the landscape of the world and the landscape of the heart—whether they honor the lives traumatized in the Balkan wars of the early 1990’s or by the emotional dissonance of family relationships. Foster’s poems are far from being casual observations: they are on intimate terms with public and private violence.
Amazon USAThe poems in this exquisite collection, The Blue Divide by Linda Nemec Foster, reflect the landscape of the world and the landscape of the heart—whether they honor the lives traumatized in the Balkan wars of the early 1990’s or by the emotional dissonance of family relationships. Foster’s poems are far from being casual observations: they are on intimate terms with public and private violence.
In the poem, Love in the Midst of War, the narrator reflects on this violence by aptly stating that the difference between the aftermath of love and war can be expressed by “the silent moon surrounded by the gray/ of shrapnel and transparent clouds…”
Love in the Midst of War
You attempt to name the image
that cannot be named. As if a stone
could become the cold heart
of a grenade, a clenched fist
of twisted metal…
In Fire and Ice, the poet has created a deep and marvelous imagery that reveals the beauty of the color blue and its origin through the following lines:
…A stranger leans
into her blue scarf and whispers,
“Blue is something of an ecstatic
accident created by fire and ice.”
In Mount Fuji, the poet describes the undying beauty of the mountain covered “with its eternal snow,” and her friend’s love for the mountain. Because of that love, her friend “bought a small reproduction/of Hokusai’s “Boy Viewing Mount Fuji”/and hung it on her bedroom wall.” The poem’s ending is unique and offers a perspective about death that is captivating, haunting, and poignant.
In The Water, Foster examines the dissonance in her parents’ marriage with the lines “The ocean between them so vast/not even two daughters could bridge/the blue divide.” This image depicts the tough times the parents have gone through: the mother and father at odds in their relationship. The poem is highly significant since it contains a phrase that is the title of the book (The Blue Divide) and reveals a glimpse into the poet’s life and family.
Foster has enriched her poems with nuance, restraint, and a perfect style which is consistently excellent. I can name no vision more invigorating and intriguing than that vision reflected in the poetry of Linda Nemec Foster.
--- Rochak Agarwal