Justifying the Ways of Animals to God

Check out my wife's latest poem from her collection Reconnaissance here. It's called "Justifying the Ways of Animals to God" and involves an unfortunate encounter between my cat Django and a snake.

Reconnaissance Available!

My wife's beautiful collection of poetry, Reconnaissance, is available now! Pick up your copy from the Homebound Publications shop, or from your local independent book store today.

Siesta

Check out my wife's poem "Siesta" in Coastal Connecticut Magazine.

UB Creating

Amy and I are featured in the latest UB promotional materials for UB in Action. Our section is UB Creating. Find us and our statistics at the bottom of the page here.

October at Nomad's End

Autumn on the Mountain

by Eric D. Lehman

Our first autumn on the mountain was the hardest.
The land had not given up its secrets, and the summer work
had nearly crushed us. Our bodies cracked and creaked
their way around the craggy traprock paths, decaying
from the inside, beginning a long decline. Winter awaits
a numbed finger, a wounded hip, a dragging foot, but more –
the logs we chopped, the books we wrote, the bonds we made.
Our hands are older now. But nuthatches thank us, and cats
curl around the thought of a stretch by the roaring fire.

There is work to be done on that mountain yet, endless
work, with small success and comfort at the end, a few
bright days, a shelf of books, and the memory
of being held tightly under flannel sheets. Love
is the truest victory, but not the only one, and those
of us who toil in the high, poetic mountains
must struggle each year, and one day build not hope
but happiness—not spring, but autumn.

 

 

 

First published at ken*again.

Danbury First Congregational Church

Enjoyed our book signing the other day at Danbury's First Congreational Church with David Leff for Alice at Byrd's Books, one of my favorite stores in the state. The bonus was the pulpit below, which a certain Ralph Waldo Emerson preached at, lo these many years ago. It was saved from the fire that destroyed the original church.

After Inspecting Brassai's Graffiti by Amy Nawrocki

First Mammogram

Check out my wife's poem from Four Blue Eggs, "First Mammogram."

First Mammogram
Around your waist,
the heavy
reminder of radiation’s paradox:
destroy in order to save...

...Read the rest here.

At the Florence Griswold Museum

 

Amy and I presented and signed books at the Florence Griswold Museum last weekend for their Connecticut on Paper exhibit. It was honor to be there amongst the fruits of American Impressionism talking about, well, not art, but food and wine!

 



After Making Love to Lord Byron

My wife's poem "After Making Love to Lord Byron on the Morning of My Thirty-Seventh Birthday" from Garbanzo, read for the epic Garbanzofest in Bethel, Connecticut.

Much Ado About Nothing

My wife and I actually met on a UB trip to this production in 2002, even though we wouldn't officially 'meet' for another 2.5 years. I can still see her there, next to Roxie Ray in the lobby. I thought she was cute, and checked her out across the theater (their seats were not with ours) during the show. True story.

Article in the Newtown Bee

Check out the article in the Newtown Bee on my beautiful wife and her new book of poetry! For those who don't know, she grew up in Sandy Hook and loves to go back to visit. She'll be in Bethel at Byrd's Books on Saturday, March 1, at 7 pm.

Four Blue Eggs

Time to run out and get a copy of my wife's new book, Four Blue Eggs. It's a beautiful collection of insightful, crisp poems. Here's what the cover says:

"Four Blue Eggs is sense music, an exploration of beginnings and of endings. In this collection of poems, Amy Nawrocki intuits fireflies and sapphires, observes gardens rooted in glasses of water, and tests the bindings of old books. Solace abounds-in winter's white, in the hefty doors of an Oldsmobile, in half melted candles. Stick figures walk in this terrestrial moonscape, birds nest in improbable trees, daughters survive without mothers and fathers. Her poems propose that though "we earn the favor of being by breaking," the pieces are salvageable; bruises heal from the inside through the universe's infinite surrogacy. The collection contemplates how to tether the salty wounds of sadness, how to find our treeness, and how to say good bye."

Easton Historical Society

Amy and I had a lot of fun speaking at the Easton Historical Society the other day. So many people turned out - it was great to see the enthusiasm for our state's culinary treasures.

Nearby is the Helen Keller Middle School - she lived in Easton for three decades! Most people in Connecticut don't even know that. We'll be discussing her more in our next book.

Book Trailer for Garbanzo Literary Journal

I have a story in this upcoming issue of the already legendary literary journal, Garbanzo. Get there.

Newtown Arts Festival

Amy and I were honored to speak at the Newtown Arts Festival this year. It was a special year there after the tragedy last winter, and it was twice as big as last year. We gave a presentation on A History of Connecticut Food, and had great attendance. Next year they might sell our book(s) at the main tent!

Amy Nawrocki as seen by Larry Locke

Filmmaker Larry Locke gives my wife the star professor treatment in his new faculty biography series. I am positive he got some of the photos in the video from this blog!

Smoke of Ambergris

Poet Amy Nawrocki reads her award-winning ekphrastic poem "Smoke of Ambergris" at the Providence Public Library during the Loft Anthology Gala during June 2013.

Lucifer Falls, New York

Check out my wife Amy's poem Lucifer Falls, New York in the latest issue of JMWW. In addition, she has a blog entry at JMWW about the poem and about our time in the Finger Lakes. Enjoy!

Interview with Leslie Browning

Recently Homebound Publications Founder and Connecticut native Leslie M. Browning sat down and talked with me about myupcoming book Afoot in Connecticut: Journeys in Natural History.

 

Leslie: As author of Insider’s Guide to Connecticut, A History of Connecticut Food, A History of Connecticut Wine and two other books about Connecticut, what makes Afoot in Connecticut different from your previous works?

 

Eric: I love food and wine, and I enjoy writing history, but I came to love Connecticut first through walking the trails and discovering the natural world. So this book is much closer to my heart.

I hope it inspires other people to get out of their cars and take to the trails, because that is the best way, some would say the only way, to know a place. And I think that knowing and understanding where you live is an important part of knowing yourself.

 

Leslie: If you had to choose a favorite moment or a favorite hideaway in Connecticut what/where would it be?

 

Eric: Oh boy, there are so many—I’ve included many of those moments and hideaways in the book, of course. If you like to camp then I’d have to say Macedonia Brook State Park outside of Kent is possibly the most beautiful place I’ve spent a night. And if you’re not the sort who likes to sleep on the ground, then the Old Riverton Inn; it will always be close to my heart, because that’s where I was married, in a small ceremony with friends and family in front of a roaring fire on an autumn evening. I guess that’s probably my favorite moment, too.

 

Leslie: In the book there are many wonderful stories to be savored but there are, of course, those rock-bottom moments. One particular trip that comes to mind is when you and a friend trekked across Connecticut. That trip was grueling; you two ran into many obstacles, everything from bad weather to massive blisters. Did you regret setting out on the trip?

 

Eric: Absolutely not. As I say in the book, the struggle makes us not only stronger but better people, and I’m much better for going on that walk. That one day, though, when we hiked close to 25 miles, through that rainstorm… That was probably the hardest single day of hiking I’ve ever done, and I’ve hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I’ve never hallucinated because of fatigue like that before or since.

 

Leslie: You are a professor of Creative Writing at Bridgeport University. At one point in the book, you tell stories of taking students out into the field to learn about the natural history of the Connecticut countryside. During these excursions you did several interesting things with them, everything from pointing out rock formations to rappelling. When reading that section, all I could think was how much I would love to take such a hands-on course. Were you ever able to build a class around that idea?

 

Eric: Unfortunately not. Apparently there are insurance issues, etc. I was doing all that on the “down low,” as the kids said gleefully. I actually did far more of it than I described in the book, with students at Quinnipiac University, Southern Connecticut State University, and the University of Bridgeport. One of my favorite things to do is take students on what seems to be an ordinary hike in the woods, but with a secret destination—a ruined house foundation, a frog pond, or an abandoned lighthouse.

 

Leslie: What was the most interesting thing you have discovered about the natural history of Connecticut during your treks?

 

Eric: I think it was when I saw coyotes here in Connecticut, and realized that they were much larger than the ones I had seen out West. I looked into this phenomenon, and found that some scientists believe that they bred with wolves in Ontario before coming here, and that’s how they got so large. When you’re hiking alone and you happen upon a pack of coyotes that size…suddenly you are no longer in the safe, modern suburban world, even if you are only a couple miles from your house.

 

Leslie: Two of your most well-known books, A History of Connecticut Food and A History of Connecticut Wine, you co-authored with your wife Amy Nawrocki. In Afoot in Connecticut you tell the story of how you two met. What was it like telling this part of your story? How did she feel about your decision to share this story?

 

Eric: I had already started writing the book when I met her, and it really became the perfect ending to the story. I had spent seven years on my own in Connecticut before I met her, and had already fallen in love with the state. So, it was great to find someone to share that with, someone who had lived in Connecticut all her life, but had not really paid much attention to the natural history of it. Now she loves Connecticut in the same ways I do.

 

She has published a number of poems in which I feature prominently, so she can’t complain about appearing in Afoot in Connecticut! Despite a mild embarrassment, she loves the book, especially the themes of discovery and nature.

 

Leslie: In the book you describe on one of your first dates together with Amy, during which you took her on a hike as a way to share your passion for the wilderness with her. The date ends with her stepping on a bee’s nest. While she seemed to tough her way through, has that deterred you from taking hikes together or is she still your trail companion?

 

Eric: She is still most definitely my trail companion: we hiked the White Mountains shortly after that experience. She claims that the bees were just doing their duty, and had no problem going out again…after a few days with antihistamines and calamine lotion.

 

See her poem about the experience here: http://www.lochravenreview.net/2006spring/nawrocki.html

 

Leslie: Glad to hear she didn’t let the experience sour the outdoors for her. Finally, to close things out, what is next for you?

 

Since I’m very quickly destroying my knees hiking, I think I’ll bike around New England next. Amy and I rode from New Haven to Massachusetts last summer, so that’s a good start.