Linda Nemec Foster

Japanese Garden

Arts & Literature

“The poems in Japanese Garden create perfectly nuanced reflections that embrace each season. They travel from spring, when a finch warbles haiku, to winter, when the poet ‘kneels to write a word . . . / sees a pebble cradled in the womb of a rock / . . . and [feels] . . . awe.’ Throughout her beautifully paced book, Nellie deVries is ‘pull[ing] the door closed / against the past.’ In doing so, she opens our eyes to the present that is so vibrantly alive in her garden.”