A Book for Susan
Love in Winter and Other Poems
by
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Polar Bumblebee Polar Bumblebee Bombus polaris whose name is sort of onomatopoetic and who, like the polar bear, grows large and round and wears a fur coat imagine that while nesting in arctic meadows, facing the sun until neither bee nor bear will rise again for months, beginning a long sleep until reawakening.
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About the Book
This collection invites the reader to travel with the author from the Alaska Highway to Las Vegas, sharing reflections and experiences along the way. John Bunyan makes an appearance, as does Shakespeare. A painter appears, whose work has stirred the interest of one of the world's major galleries—an artist who came to North America from Australia by way of Shanghai, and who for many years was the author's friend before he disappeared along with what are now estimated to be hundreds of his works. The reader will have the chance to take a long walk across a well-known city by night, attend matins sung by robins, and visit churches and corner stores while observing a spontaneous combustion of bees, mobile vegetables, several happy animals, and gardens filled with gorgeous flowers. A Book for Susan is a poignant collection of poems exploring themes of love, faith, and nature and sharing vignettes of daily life in the country and the city. This book honors the memory of an extraordinary woman and is shared in gratitude and thanksgiving to God, in praise to Him for His gifts to us of faith and hope and love through Jesus Christ. Celebrate Christ’s love with the help of one who has long studied, taught, and loved Christian poetry.
About the Author
Alexander Forbes received a PhD in English literature from the University of Toronto, where he taught before becoming a lecturer at the University of British Columbia and a professor at Thompson Rivers University. His poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in journals across North America including Canadian Literature, Mosaic, the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Frogpond, the Rocky Mountain Review and many others, and he is the author of two books of poems (After the Moon a Blue Ocean and Luminous Orange) as well as a novella (Oranges) and a collection of his poems paired with the works of the noted Canadian painter Tricia Sellmer (Rumours of Bees). Two of his biographies are included in The Dictionary of Literary Biography (Detroit: Gale), one in The University of Toronto Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto), and a memoir recording his friendship with the painter Germain Kalmykoff in Substack. His poems have also appeared in collections published by New Star (Vancouver), Anvil (Vancouver), and McFarland (Jefferson, North Carolina). One of his poems became the basis for a short ballet when selected in a competition in California, and two audiobook CDs of his poems were produced by Capitol Records Gold Record recipient Henry Small, who composed music for the poems. After receiving awards in audiobook, spoken word, and poetry competitions in the United States, one of the audiobooks was invited to be displayed in the awards section of the New York Book Fair. Alexander Forbes served for many years as Canadian Literature editor of Ultimate Reality and Meaning, a University of Toronto Press journal, and on the Board of the Federation of British Columbia Writers. He has given readings in both the United States and Canada and lives in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, where he is a member of the Church of the Nazarene.