Forty Years of Yes

My new book entitled, Forty Years of Yes – My Life with Peggy is now available.  This is a collection of poems and prose which I wrote either to or about Peggy. Some of my poetry goes back to the mid-1980s. We wrote two volumes of answering poems together back in the day, Letters to the Same Address, (Momentum Press) and Along These Lines. Peggy’s poetry about our relationship is a separate book, Two Is a Sacred Number, Peggy Aylsworth.

Putting together these pieces was a labor of love which brought with it some tearful moments but even more delight recalling our life together. We celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and Valentine’s Day by exchanging poems, some of which have been given a new life in these pages. There are a few which bewilder me still. The references were fleeting with only traces in some of the words.

Those of you who met Peggy or knew her only through her writing will recognize her irrepressible appetite for life. She met the world with all its pot holes, detours and severe tire damage, its unresolved mysteries and fools and to all of it she said Yes. She affirmed messy humanity because she also knew how to summon her own inner resources. She never stopped seeking but had the knack of finding as well. Tree-stumps, pods, bark, clouds, shadows and fallen leaves never escaped her. Along with all that was Peggy’s wide embrace of people, family of course, endearing friendships and even kinship with strangers. I needed another forty years to learn her secret.

My wish is that some of her spirit and soul will be conveyed to the reader. The book is available through Amazon or from me for the price of a Chinese chicken salad. Enter,  40 Years of Yes: My Life with Peggy: Levine, Norm: 9798357604071: Amazon.com: Books