{"product_id":"the-loving-selected-poems-9798999885814","title":"The Loving: Selected Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Loving: Selected Poems\u003c\/em\u003e by Rena Gerhard brings together her best poems over a period of five decades. These poems reveal her love for Jesus and God. Other topics include dance, family, coming of age in the mid-twentieth century, and inspiration to recover after brain cancer. Most of her poems are short and impactful. Her skill from traditional verse to modern verse is at once insightful, surprising, and relaxed, written with an ease that makes them feel like familiar and welcome friends. Rena's work has earned the respect of other authors and poets: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is an honor to read Rena Gerhard's poems, to touch in after decades with her precision of imagination and her encounters with daily life, laced with the generosity and intimacy of a \"trembling heart.\" I love how Gerhard envisions herself standing \"at the door of a dark night\" and whistling as \"the beautiful words come running.\" Yet she also wrote herself through suffering. She recognized that she would have to \"look through the hollows between the words.\" This memorial volume edited by her son, the poet Fred Gerhard, will stand as an enduring achievement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-Heather H. Thomas, author of \u003cem\u003eVortex Street\u003c\/em\u003e (FutureCycle Press, 2018)\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eand former editor of \u003cem\u003eMusings, \u003c\/em\u003e poetry column, \u003cem\u003eReading Eagle\u003c\/em\u003e newspaper\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the middle of the Twentieth Century approached, a young woman near Reading, Pennsylvania, took up poetry keenly aware of the thick, heavy glass ceiling hovering over every line she wrote. But write she did, and one could sense in the lines from her poem \"Night Walk\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLiving through my night walk\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e She's sleeping standing up ....\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOr in \"Midnight Forest\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe silence seems too tense.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e One fears to breathe in case one might\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e Thus doing, cause offense. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e that she felt it deeply, but that also saw cracks in the male ceiling already present, cracks that by the 1960s would demolish it, at least in poetry, and provide space for women equally at the forefront of our poets. And though she may not have publicly joined that movement, she quietly kept at it, quietly riding that horse, as she notes in \"Strange Steed\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhen the wise had gone to bed\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e To receive their well-earned rest, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e Then I watched him as he fed, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e And I sat his back, a guest\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e Instead.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-Rodger Martin, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Sleeping Dogs of Lubec, The Nemo Poems: A Martian Perspective, The Blue Moon Series, \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eFor All the Tea in Zhōngguó\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRena Gerhard weaves a tapestry of life's quiet wonders and profound depths, from the shimmering beauty of nature to the intimate struggles of the human spirit. This collection- captures a lifelong love affair with words, faith, and family, inviting readers to dance through verses that resonate with emotional clarity and timeless grace.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e ----Peter David Orr, author of \u003cem\u003eBeneath the Surface of Shadow and Light\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eWith the End in Mind\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo many people long for that presence, which would keep their loved ones alive forever. We search under afghans, trapse through attics, and roam down long forgotten places for one gem, one picture, or one word that would help us remember. Rena, through her poetry, \u003cem\u003eThe Loving -\u003c\/em\u003e she has remained. Be there for a moment with her, and soon, you too, will be jumping in and enjoying her enchanting dance with words.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-H. Alfke, author of \u003cem\u003eA Smattering: Life, Death, God, and Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Petronella Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/31\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798999885814\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 102\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.26lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.26d","brand":"Rena Gerhard","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52733692313781,"sku":"9798999885814","price":12.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-loving-selected-poems-9798999885814","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}