In Brief: Alive in This World

By Pamela Haines. Producciones de la Hamaca, 2021. 156 pages. $25/paperback; $12.99/eBook.   

This collection of poetry, Alive in This World, is organized into three sections. The first, “A Home with the Trees,” explores a relationship with the trees as the poet gets to know them: in wonder, growing understanding, grief, and gratitude. In “Commuter Encounters,” intimate contact with strangers on a trolley commute and time spent on a city bus and on regional rail routes invites reflection on humanity, connection, and justice. In the final section, “A Home with the Earth,” the soil is a medium for meditations on nourishment, and how loving small city green spaces can provide big gifts. How do we make meaning of what we see? How can it illuminate our understanding of ourselves and of the world we inhabit together? How does it change us? These closely-observed and big-hearted poems are all about relationships, providing not only a picture or a story, but a window to new possibilities.