Shadow and Reflection

Shadow and Reflection is a collection of poems that takes the reader on a voyage of light and colour of what the author B.L.P. Simmons discovered in her wanderings and wonderings. The reader finds in each chapter the illuminations and wisdom that emerge from a storied life in poetry from the shadows into the light of her garden and the sea, music and myth and her family, walks in the morning, and the many voices spoken and heard in the many languages she loves so dearly. There is a chapter devoted to the beloved among us in our human family who have struggled and showed courage and resilience. And there is a chapter called "In Other Words" with her poems in translation, some born in both Spanish and English, and others translated here by friends from English into French, Dutch, Hebrew, Bulgarian, and Macedonian. By the end of the book and wherever one goes there, the reader is bound to feel grateful for what can be learned and appreciated from her embrace of the world she has traveled.