Getting Home from Here by Anne Ward-Masterson
Getting Home from Here offers forty-seven stunning, thought-provoking poems covering a woman’s life whose personal history reflects much of the ethnic complexity, familial joys/sorrows, social strains, and natural beauty of the U.S. Anne Ward-Masterson writes of her New Hampshire girlhood, Wading into cool water/sinking soft sediment of the river bed oozes/sucking at our toes. And of Alaska, her home now, Spring cries storms against/My window all through twilight/Sunrise brings damp calm. Anne also calls out the racist history of the U.S. which foisted shame and confusion upon her mixed-race childhood but is now a source of pride. An inspiring and compelling read.
—Kerry Dean Feldman, author of Alice’s Trading Post: A Novel of the West, and poems in The Woman Within: Memory as Muse
In Getting Home from Here, especially her poems about race, Ward-Masterson calls out schools, the military, and people who make assumptions about her. She questions how people perceive blackness ("why won't I tone it down?"). She describes the cab of a pickup truck or a riverbed with equal clarity through sensory language. Her natural, occasional rhyme threads a consistent, melodic quality through several moments of soft, poignant sadness. Her devices hit their mark. An ecological element eases the pain: bees alight on her arms: "let nature heal the wounds it did not make." A rewarding read.
—Cynthia Steele
Cirque Press Author — Anne Ward-Masterson
Anne Ward-Masterson grew up in New Hampshire in the tame woods, fishing, canoeing and swimming in the Lamprey River and reading books on cold rainy days. Attending Brandeis University and later marrying into the USAF gave her a broader view of people, religions and food. She currently resides in Eagle River, Alaska, where there are no tame rivers or woods.
Janice D. Rubin is a counselor and educator. She received her M.S. from the University of Oregon and her B.A. in English Literature. Her work has appeared in Third Wednesday, Literary & Arts Journal, San Pedro River Review, The Timberline Review, Red River Review, Cirque, a Literary
Scott Hanson is a writer, wireless professional, poet and philosopher who lives in Kingston, Washington. A lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, he was raised in Bellevue, Washington and graduated from the University of Washington in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. His mother – herself a painter in watercolors – inspired an appreciation for music, writing and the arts. Scott took piano lessons, taught himself to play the drums as a teenager and began writing journal entries, poetry and short stories. He worked several different jobs during college and in his twenties, including as a bread & pastry truck driver, while chasing his youthful dreams of becoming the next John Steinbeck or John Bonham. In 1992, at 26 years old, he finished his first book (unpublished), Gramma Betty and Grampa Jack, a genealogical history of the maternal side of his family.
Shauna Potocky has a deep love of high peaks, jagged ridgelines and ice. She has a strong connection to the natural world—including both landscapes and seascapes with their rough or subtle edges where life unfolds; her writing has been described as poetic memoir and powerful witnessing. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of publications and journals both at home and internationally; her forth coming book of poetry Sea Smoke, Spindrift and Other Spells is scheduled to be published by Cirque Press. Shauna Potocky is a poet and painter who lives in Seward, Alaska located within the traditional homelands of the Sugpiaq people.
Announcing Circles, a new imprint of Cirque Press designed for illustrated books. Look to these engaging books for image and light, fun and fantasy, mystery and music. Circles focuses on the singing of the spheres, the clock of the seasons, the mirth of the hyena, and the renewal of legend and myth.
Lynda Whisman Humphrey is a retired Elementary Principal, former Reading Specialist, Central Office Administrator, and Administrator of a Teacher Education Program at the University of Washington. She and her husband spend their summers on their 68-acre ranch in the Methow Valley of Washington State, her winters in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and once in a while at the Seattle house. She loves seeing eyes light up with the “AHA” moment of learning. She describes herself as a “learning junkie” constantly seeking new information. She loves to travel and explore architecture, culture, music, food, traditions, and the people of different countries. She has a very fond place in her heart for Mexico and animals!
