{"product_id":"time-and-other-solvents-9798999256874","title":"Time and Other Solvents","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTime and Other Solvents\u003c\/em\u003e is a collection of poetry by Claudia Gary, reflecting on her youth and her family. Gary writes with craft; in symmetric verse and rhyme schemes. Her metier is the sonnet--the most graceful of all poetic forms. Even within this constraint, she creates delightful variation--breaking the first twelve lines not only into quatrains, but also triads and clusters of four and eight lines--sometimes even doubling those first twelve lines. But she unfailingly returns to the volta, with insight and wit. There is music in these lines.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn example: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWrong-Way Driver\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI. Close Call\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReturning home at twilight from the store-\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eyour baby safely strapped into her seat, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe main road not yet widened into four, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethen six lanes-in your northbound path you meet\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etwo headlights. Is he crazy? Suicidal?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYou swerve onto the shoulder but, for reasons\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eunknown, you spin around. Your shrill recital\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eof \"No!\" explodes the day, the night, the season.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYou don't know how you did it, but you land\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eacross the road, turned in the right direction, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003estopped on the southbound shoulder. What calm hand\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehas helped? The baby slumbers in perfection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArriving home alarmed, you phone your parents: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYou're still alive! The day before, you weren't.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eII. Adrenaline Speaks\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere on this shoulder is your place to watch\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe wrong-way driver who missed killing you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStill in his wrong-lane, slow-motion approach, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003einterior lights all lit, he barrels through\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eyour consciousness again. He can't be real.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe has the spirit of a broken brick\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethrowing itself against a porcelain wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe's grabbed your life and given it a kick.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWas this enough? Is this what was required\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eto make you value each day as a gift, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eor will you linger on, stubbornly mired\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ein everyday sensation till you drift\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edownstream leaving no more than alibi?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere on this shoulder is your place to cry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Sligo Creek Publishing Company\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/23\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798999256874\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 96\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.41lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.26d","brand":"Claudia Gary","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52435644580021,"sku":"9798999256874","price":15.26,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_8e795f7f-9992-43cb-8a99-42e981779c81.jpg?v=1776227668","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/time-and-other-solvents-9798999256874","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}