Barbara Challis Koch Libri

The Olivette is a kaleidoscope, each turn of the wheel threading colors from the past into a new form, each turn of the page weaving a canvas of old fabric with new yarn. Some of the poems were written long ago, some were composed yesterday. They go together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I have tried to maintain visual symmetry and form without being confined and to integrate cogency with rhythm and rhyme. Nevertheless, I have included the abandon of free verse where it has seemed appropriate incorporating varieties of poetic style weaving historical technique translating passage through time and space. To select a sample is nearly impossible since no one poem is like any other either in subject or style. Perhaps 'Glastonbury Abbey' near the beginning and 'Cragsmere Rock' near the end with 'The Regatta I', the Regatta series being used to connect sequences, might suffice. B.C.K.

Pittsburgh's Rich history is resurrected in this compelling sequel to The Olivette. Barbara Challis Kock's native roots bear fruit in this lush casting of characters in The Testudinata. The author has transferred her poetry from legend, myth and the British Isles to the American stage in a roll call of dynamic persuasion. The Civil War era showcases Appomattox and documents a young soldier of the Pennsylvania 155th (a fruit on Mrs. Koch's ancestral tree) to his death there, his cry from the grave at the events of 9/11/01 and dovetails the destination of Julia and Ulysses Grant with the plantation parade of southern aristocracy Natchez. The romantic turn of the century charmingly spotlights Willa Cather, Ethelbert Nevin and the Rhineharts against the Three Rivers' canvas. With a gifted pen the author infuses the Fitzgeralds, bootleg whisky and musical rhetoric to convey the agony and passion of The Jazz Age. Some of her own poignant memories are woven through The Depression and World War II sequences. Limitations of lyric and rhyme are credibly abandoned in this more urgent narrative rendering. She evokes the testimony of Dante and Homer with oblivion to time lines in a fascinating flight of fact and fancy. It is at once an invincible invocation to arms. The sequel is designed to be a companion to The Olivette. The pair belongs together.