“The Sifting Hush of a Small Wind”
In a world immersed in pandemic and largescale confusion, Sally Sandler pays close attention to the small voices that grace us with the ordinary. Deeply rooted in nature and in the past, these are messengers of change as well as familiarity, and many arrive like the hush of a small wind.
The sifting hush of a small wind.
The slap of familiarity. And
this is it, then isn’t it—
the terns arrive abruptly and summer
dissolves in waves at their feet
before I can beg it to stop.
“A Column of Smoke”
With her most recent book, Sandler straddles the known world and the world amidst a global pandemic. A new threat makes more poignant the losses and dangers that already accompany her aging Baby Boomer generation and their concerns for life on a fragile planet.
A column of smoke ghosted west to the sea
and I missed my off ramp
like most of the others
who prayed to the fire gods
oh please, not me.
“Willow and Bark”
Sandler’s writing is emotionally open and unsparing as she writes about the losses she shares and the insights she gains as she moves through time with so many others of her generation.
Her heart is a lily ready to bloom. Mine is a garden of
children and dogs, family and friends,
some in the ground.
“Imprints”
With “Imprints,” author Sally Sandler goes deeper under the skin of poetry to explore those life experiences that leave their indelible marks on her generation of Baby Boomers.
I’ve schooled them in the magic of a fallen leaf, a twisted tree…
now it’s me–the autumn leaf,
me a child they cannot see.
“Rocket’s Run”
The true tale of a little dog who is inspired each day to match his speed running on the beach to the train on the cliff above.
“One Path”
Sally Sandler’s second poetry collection, One Path, includes 30 new poems, some of which have been posted here.
… until the stone was bleached and pale,
and steps began to blend with sky.
Now the walls were smooth; a veil
of time and wind and life’s travails
had polished them, and so did I.
So begins the journey into Sally Sandler’s second volume of poetry, through a canyon path and into the twists of fate that life brings. To the everyday experiences of life and seasons on the West Coast, and to the larger themes of heartbreak, aging, chance, and death, she brings sensitivity, optimism, and the eye of a keen observer.
“Sowing Seeds of Wonder”
The greatest satisfaction in my disordered life has come from my contact with Nature.
—Ruth Baird Larabee, age 56, in Puebla, Mexico, c1955
Sowing Seeds of Wonder, published in 2016, is the true story of Ruth and Charles Larabee, who originated San Diego Botanic Garden, in Encinitas, California. Their lives were filled with wonder and adventure, love and loss, courage, heartbreak, and tragedy, all grounded in their connections to the outdoors.