Mailbox Monday #670

Mailbox Monday has become a tradition in the blogging world, and many of us thank Marcia of The Printed Page for creating it.

It now has its own blog where book bloggers can link up their own mailbox posts and share which books they bought or which they received for review from publishers, authors, and more.

Velvet, Martha, and I also will share our picks from everyone’s links in the new feature Books that Caught Our Eye. We hope you’ll join us.

This is what we received:

Forces by Lisa Stice from the publisher.

Inspired by great works of visual art, writing, and sculpture—as well as small moments observed alongside her home-schooled daughter and beloved dog Seamus—poet and U.S. Marine Corps spouse Lisa Stice explores the invisible forces and frictions at work in our lives.

“Stice is a master of quiet revelation and connection,” says the publisher. “Her words illuminate how to find beauty, wonder, calm, and strength in a world that too often feels filled with ugliness and chaos.”

For example, in “Woman Holding a Balance,” Stice considers the image of Johannes Vermeer’s 1664 painting of the same name, revealing the grounded strength within:

behind her:
a healing grace
the salvation of forgiveness
promise and sacrifice

before her:
value weighed
an equal measure
dignity and decorum

within her:
blood of generations
nurturing warmth
a round-cheeked future

And, in “While Daddy’s at Training, Our Daughter Asks Questions”:

I don’t know how to explain 35,000 feet—
all I can say is it’s very high—yes, far above
our house and those trees, but no, not beyond
the moon or the stars—and how far are those?
but I don’t know how to explain that either.

When will he be back?—so I count the days,
point to them on the calendar—what is it like
in the sky?—I say I know it’s cold and difficult
to breathe, but I don’t know how to explain
50 below or the partial pressure of oxygen.

She pretends to be an airplane—can I skydive?—
and I say when you are much older, but I don’t
know if I’d want her to—she counts backwards
then jumps her couple inches—and my heart
rises before it falls back into place again.

What did books did you receive?