[The ruins of the abandoned farmhouse on the Highland Crossing Trail in Brighton where an old man once kept emu. Photo: David Kramer, 2/22/21, from Exotic animals once lived next to the Highland Crossing Trail]
Monday, March 1st started the way any day starts for poet and educator Kitty Jospé: rise at 4:15 am, write, journal, organize tasks for the day. This particular day, her two tasks were to announce the arrival of her 6th book, Sum : 1, published by FootHills publishing, and to write an ekphrastic poem responding to pictures taken in Talker‘s articles about the Highland Crossing Trail. The poem was completed by 7 am and emailed along with a flyer about her new book.
As Kitty puts it, as the proceeds for the book will go to East House, she thought about those who might have inhabited the abandoned buildings on the trail.
The title of Sum : 1 plays on the concept of respecting each “someone” in the Sum of us. She remains an eternal optimist, convinced that caring about people and their stories can foster a cultivation of respect and dignity and help dispel criticism and distrust.
You’ve met Kitty at the Poets Walk on University Avenue, at the Poetry Oasis reading group at Rundel Library and (sort of) on the Genesee River.
Kitty offers the acrostic/telestich poem “Triggers as Activators of Mystery.” An acrostic is a poem (or other form of writing) in which the first letter (or syllable, or word) of each line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet.
The oranges referenced in Kitty’s poem. [Photo: David Kramer, 2/16/21, from Before and after the (disappointing) Déluge at the Highland Crossing]
Kitty Jospé, March 1st, 2021, Rochester, NY
The ruins of the farmhouse of the semi-hermit who owned exotic animals [Photo: David Kramer, 2/20/21, from Exotic animals once lived next to the Highland Crossing Trail]
See Sum : 1
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Exotic animals once lived next to the Highland Crossing Trail
Kitty Jospé provides noon nourishment for the mind at Rundel.
