Hanging Like Hope on the Equinox

Donna Pucciani's fifth collection of poems, Hanging Like Hope on the Equinox, explores the strength and fragility of life and moves through journeys both geographic and spiritual. With the power of strong personal voice, Pucciani details seasonal images which convey the harshness of winter and the promise of spring's resurrection. The reader becomes traveler, through illness, surgery, aging and dying, from small towns in the north of Spain to the Ferris wheel at Chicago's Navy Pier. The poet is fearless in her juxtaposition of love and grief, witnessing the human spirit in relentless confrontation with adversity. In the final poem, the graces of the present moment emerge in "little fireflies of dreams... a letter from an old friend...meteors with their long hair flying." The writer leaves us "hanging like hope on the equinox," making peace with the inevitable change of seasons, seeing a vision of a world half-lit, half-dark, and choosing the light.