As for the proper way to approach these ruminations from the twilight, there is none. While they are in chronological order, covering March of 2022 to April of 2023, there is no need to start at the beginning.

A more spirited way of beginning a new relationship (books too can become friends) might be to cast your eyes over titles in Contents (there are quite a few) and start checking out some you find intriguing. You’ll know soon enough if there are things here to feed you, draw you further in.

I could only smile when a friend recently informed me he finally finished Blue Plums on a Mat of Leaves, my most recent volume of poetry, reading but one or two poems a day. Like wine, poetry is best savored.

A good novel is a page-turner, meant by the thrust of its story to carry the reader suspensefully forward. A good poem is a page-ponderer, station-stop instead of long-distance ride, aiming vertical instead of horizontal.

Think of the poems to follow as ruminations hoping to spark in fellow spirit travelers their own ruminations, best pondered in twilight. .