Three New Books by Carol Purington

The family of Carol Purington is very happy to announce three new books by Carol. As many of you know, Carol passed away on December 8, 2020, with family by her side in the room where she lived on Woodslawn Farm in Colrain, Massachusetts. 

Carol had several projects near completion and in late November 2020 she asked her family to finish and share her unpublished books. Carol had completed the writing and order of poetry and covers had been designed. Her family completed the formatting and proofreading and added photographs. We think Carol would be pleased with these books.

As a tribute to Carol, we present:

Emerald Flash - A collection of tanka - 129 poems in 15 sequences. Paperback, 91 pages, black & white illustration, 5 1/2” x 8 1/2”.

A Drift of Birdsong - A collection of 394 haiku with a beautiful cover designed by Frances Kidder. Carol worked on this book for many years as a collection of haiku to be illustrated by black and white photographs of birds. As she selected poems and pictures, the direction of the book changed and became Farm Song, which Carol released in mid-2020. Several of Carol's friends suggested that the original Birdsong should be completed as a collection of haiku without the family emphasis. Family photos were removed, the order of some haiku changed to better reflect the seasons, and color photographs of birds were added. Paperback, 171 pages, color photographs, 5 1/2” x 8 1/2”.

In His Presence - a collection of 27 of Carol’s poems - Psalms, Hymns, Christmas Carols, and Spiritual Songs. Paperback, 41 pages, no illustrations or photographs, 5 1/2” x 8 1/2”.

If you are interested in ordering any of the books, see information below.

Prices include shipping/postage costs.
Emerald Flash - $16
A Drift of Birdsong - $16
In His Presence - $8
Farm Song - $28

Contact
Nancy Purington
nanpur33@gmail.com

Checks payable to
Nancy Purington
PO Box 2233
Palm City, FL 34991

Farm Song on the Touchstone Distinguished Book Awards Shortlist for 2020

Carol Purington’s Farm Song is a finalist for the Touchstone Distinguished Book Awards. The Haiku Foundation will announce the final awards on April 17, 2021. [Update April 17, 2021- winners announced: https://thehaikufoundation.org/touchstone-distinguished-books-awards-for-2020/]

“The Haiku Foundation is pleased to announce The Touchstone Distinguished Book Awards Shortlist for books of haiku and related forms published in 2020. The nominees’ work represents a rich variety of English-speaking books from many nations and haiku traditions. Our five panel members read each of the seventy-two books in the first round, and after careful deliberation chose seventeen books for the Shortlist. In the second round the panel members will review the Shortlist and determine which books will receive the highest level of recognition of Awarded and Honorable Mention.”

Read more about the 2020 Touchstone Awards and see the shortlist qualifiers on the Haiku Foundation website: https://thehaikufoundation.org/the-haiku-foundation-announces-its-touchstone-distinguished-books-award-short-list-for-2020/

Farm Song may be purchased by contacting Carol’s sister Nancy at nanpur33@gmail.com. The price is $28.00, including USPS Media Mail shipping.

Farm Song is a 191 page hardcover book, with many color and black and white photos. From Carol’s notes on the back cover:

About This Book - This book began as a collection of haiku written since Family Farm was published in 1999. The original version included a dozen black-and-white photos taken on Woodslawn Farm by family members. But as the project loitered on my computer, it changed, almost metamorphosed. 

I encountered fabulous color photos, taken elsewhere by relatives and friends, and many were irresistible, in subject and color. The guidelines for photos broadened to include anything that might have appeared on the farm or been shared by someone connected to the farm. The organizing theme shaded from birds to family and place. The title morphed from Birdsong to Farm Song. The book became a family album of haiku illuminated by Technicolor!

Farm Song

 

 Carol Purington’s new book, Farm Song, has been described by a distinguished haiku poet as “a well-done collection of fascinating photos and excellent haiku.” Hundreds of new and old family photographs counterpoint imagery presented in hundreds of haiku. Birds and babies, grandparents and gardeners, and the seasonal flow of farm work are accompanied by much laughter and many faces of love. 

Farm Song can be purchased directly from Carol for $30.00, which includes shipping by USPS Media Mail.

To contact Carol send a message from the Poetry page on this website (link below) and she will respond.

https://woodslawnfarm.blogspot.com/p/poetry.html

Farm Song: haiku by Carol Purington

Carol Purington’s new book, Farm Song, featuring more than 400 of her haiku and over 600 farm and family photographs will be available soon. Contact Nancy Purington for ordering information.
nanpur33@gmail.com

Announcement of Carol’s new book on the front page of the Pur(r)in(g)ton Family Newsletter, Spring 2020.

Mother’s Day Haiku and Tanka

A swirl of high clouds
between the retreating sun
and the frosted earth
My mother folds away the old quilts
that did not save her asters

 Fire in the woodstove
The monarch butterfly waits for the sun
to warm its wings

 Swallows have swept
this summer's sky for the final time,
have left for their other lives
in another world
and I remember you

The clothesline
light with cobwebs
a cricket's gleam

Four generations

This hepatica
whose freshness lasts for an hour . . .
if left in the woods I wouldn't have seen it,
wouldn't have seen it wilt

Twilight…
missing the bats
that always flew from barn to pond

Under bare maples
and around a sharp corner
to the field where the one-room schoolhouse
     stands – only in my mother’s words

Blue flowers
from the woods
she remembers May baskets

Spring Beauty

Wishing
the blossoms of spring
to swell slowly
      . . . as if time can give
     what eternity promises

Quiet bedroom
somehow the presence
of her absence

     c.p.

 Carol’s Mother’s Day Wish

While raising 10 other children,

three of them born after I came home,

She accomplished Himalayas of laundry, Rocky Mountains of cooking,

and Fruitful Plains of flowery gardens

In the midst of all this activity

She did everything I needed and almost everything I wanted

Because she fed, bathed, and made wrinkle-free beds,

I spent more than 50 years in bed without a pressure sore,

no case of pneumonia, not even a single night in a hospital

I was a reader and she found perfect books

at the library and on the bookmobile

I was a writer and she scribbled my confusing corrections

in crowded margins

I was a poet and she brought me stories

of outdoor experiences

that I could turn into haiku and tanka

I was a bookmaker and she helped me design covers

measure and cut and tape, choose fonts and evaluate colors

She packaged and mailed hundreds of books

She participated in every aspect of my life,

Always with interest and engagement

She was at least half my memory

Now she relaxes on her sunny porch

Great-grandchildren and hummingbirds

swirl by

Happy Mother’s Day

To my amazing

And very dear mother

You gave life to me twice –

once on November 16, 1949

and again day by day starting in the 1950s

With love,

Carol

Coming soon . . .the new book of haiku by Carol, illustrated with many photos of the family and farm.

July 2018

July 5, 2018

These haiku are from my work in progress, Farm Song.
c.p.

Awake too early
the redwing sings
anyway

Losing shape
on the flat hot rock
wet handprints, wet footprints

From the hillside
a wood thrush
almost inaudible

Heat lightning
a warm gust pushes
into a warm room

Heading to the Woodslawn Farm fields with a baler on a hot mid-summer day many years ago.