I Come to Morning

Selected Poems of Gale Gesner

Poetry - General
80 Pages
Reviewed on 05/25/2016
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Author Biography

Gale Gesner (1953-1983), a lifelong resident of Mystic, Connecticut, attended Williams School and Mitchell College. Named Leonora-Louise by her parents, she called herself Gale in memory of her father, the well-known artist Galed Gesner, who had died when she was a child of six. An accomplished cellist and gifted writer, she was published in the Christian Science Sentinel in 1972 when she was a high-school student. Her poetry remained largely undiscovered until after her death at barely the age of thirty.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Sarah Stuart for Readers' Favorite

I Come to Morning: Selected Poems of Gale Gesner has an intriguing history. The author, Gale Gesner, was the daughter of the widely acclaimed American artist and sculptor, Galed Gesner, and she chose to use the name Gale, rather than Leonora-Louise, the names of her grandmothers, in his memory, though he died when she was only six years old. Gale herself died tragically early at barely thirty, but, hidden inside books, laced baskets, and drawers, her family found poems that track her moods, her views on life, and the deepening of her spiritual strength. Her mother saw the power of Gale’s work, and decided to share their timeless message of grace and courage in this book, edited by Gale’s lifelong friend, Priscilla Wright Pratt.

Gale Gesner's poem about her father is short and descriptive: “A few sun-drenched mornings A child’s memory erased A touch, a gesture, a forgotten face.” Give Me Words ends with an appeal for healing, written, perhaps, in the long years when she fought against death, whilst January Eighth, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Three must have been one of her last: another plea for words that were her life. The joy of living pervades even So Deep a Dark, and I loved Gale Gesner’s passion for the stars. The title poem, I Come to Morning, is reserved for the end: “Infinite bliss as one and one know One.” The poetry is freestyle and yet with a flowing pattern, and all are a joy to read. I Come to Morning: Selected Poems of Gale Gesner is a collection that will be treasured by poetry lovers all over the world.