Poetry by Louise Runyon

Louise Runyon began writing poetry in 1979, her first artistic endeavor after graduating from Oberlin College with a degree in English and Theatre Arts. The first woman to work at Atlantic Steel since World War II, she was inspired by that experience to create her first poems and choreography. Her writing soon moved into creating text for dance-theatre pieces, but poetry reemerged in 1999. Runyon produced her first book of poems, Reborn, in 2004, and her second, LANDSCAPE / Fear & Love, in 2007.

LANDSCAPE / Fear & Love deals with both the natural landscape and the landscape of human relationship in the four geographical areas in which the poet’s family is scattered — California, New York, North Carolina and Georgia. Scroll down for information on How To Order and for Sample Poems.

Praise for LANDSCAPE / Fear & Love

» LANDSCAPE / Fear & Love — what a treasure!

Daniel Berrigan, Poet, Activist and Priest

» These poems paint not only the skin, but the muscle and bones of the world and of a life. To read them is to feel through your feet the hidden rugged forces from which emerges the apparent, and to see the forces of movement in that which we mistake for eternal.

Thomas Bell, Program Director, Decatur Book Festival

» The poems in LANDSCAPE / Fear & Love take me places that I do not expect to go — they are surprising, and take me on journeys large and small. I feel compelled to read them over and over again as layers continue to reveal themselves to me. I gave this book to 20 of my friends and family for Christmas!

Cybill Shepherd, Actress, Author of “Cybill Disobedience”

Honor for LANDSCAPE / Fear & Love

Included in Valerie Jackson's Suggested Reading List for 2008. Jackson, Atlanta's former first lady, hosts the popular book show "Between the Lines" on WABE.

About Reborn

About Reborn: Based in time and space and laced with movement, these poems reflect a dancer’s sensibility in the use of language. Beginning with poems inspired by the author’s seven years as a steelworker, moving through politically alive poems and those inspired by relationships and the natural world, this book includes 11 dance photos.

Praise for Reborn

» Louise Runyon proves that her body is not the only thing that is lithe and graceful. Her poetry ebbs and flows and takes the reader on an emotional journey from her days as a steel mill worker, a dancer, a mother and beyond. Her words capture a life in motion and a life that continues to evolve. Reborn is a splendid tango of words and thoughts, urging everyone to join the dance.

Collin Kelley, Author of “Better To Travel”

Praise for Runyon’s Poetry

» There is absolutely no pretense about [Runyon’s] art… She reads aloud with humor, wit and grace as she moves about a self-styled stage freely, confidently… Runyon is an artistic force to be reckoned with, a woman of substance.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

» As fluid as any dance movement, Reborn is a body of free-verse prose poems that is confidently recommended to any and all poetry enthusiasts… Also very highly recommended and memorable reading is Louise Morgan Runyon's latest volume of published poetry, LANDSCAPE: Fear & Love.

Midwest Book Review

» Runyon reads as if words were dance movements flowing from her open heart.

Art Papers

Scroll down for sample poems from both books.

Ordering Information

For either LANDSCAPE: Fear & Love or Reborn:

Mail check for $17 per book (includes shipping & handling), payable to Louise Runyon, to P.O. Box 33601, Decatur, GA 30033-0601. Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Great Gifts!

Sample Poem from LANDSCAPE / Fear & Love

The Geology of New York

The geology of New York

I never noticed as a child, except in my bones,

except I knew I didn't like to climb as my friends did,

across the street from our apartment building,

the big gray rocks of Fort Washington

where the Battle of Harlem Heights was fought

in the revolutionary war

I noticed the cobblestones, of course, of 122nd Street,

those big gray blocks of native rock, long since paved,

hardly ever saw the Hudson, just blocks away,

never knew the Hudson River Valley.

Never climbed on the gray crags of the Palisades

across the Hudson, just heard of them,

thought of them only as

Palisades Amusement Park

The grand architecture of Manhattan,

reflecting the sheer fact of available building material,

the geology of New York,

the big gray rocks everywhere

in all the parks

But now, though still I hardly know it, except in my bones,

the gneiss and the schist of the rocks in the parks

the foundations of the great buildings

the heavy curbstones, the Palisades and rock walls

the great breadth of the Hudson

impress themselves upon me

I know so little of it, but get a sense, a glimmer,

of the beauty and the grandeur of the natural world of it,

so covered over by Times Square lights,

smoke-ring-blowing billboards, cars

jutting out of buildings,

while underneath —

so far from the land I really know

(its beauty always pointed out) —

so far from the blue mountains of North Carolina —

those gentle mountains of my ancestral home,

sleeping giants covered with green army blankets,

great gentle beasts you could nestle down in,

or whom you could straddle and ride —

so far from those blue mountains,

underneath "New York"

is a wild and rugged island, a majestic river valley

made from solid bedrock, gray gigantic rock,

the river cutting through it

in its rush to the sea

Sample Poem from Reborn

The Wistfulness of Fall

The Joe-Pye weed

is a-comin’ up

along with the goldenrod,

neither yet their huge,

unruly selves,

but both still just yet small

and sedate

The Joe-Pye weed,

the goldenrod,

the blood-red lobelia, too,

a brilliant scarlet plume,

just startin’ out, all three:

mauve,

gold,

and surely

the reddest red

you ever did see

It’ll be fall soon,

boy’ll be gone.

Somethin’s happened to the pond,

it’s ‘bout gone,

though we’ve had

rain

Golden-green grass covers half,

another quarter is mud,

the last quarter

is muddy water

But birds abound in it,

a half-grown, snowy,

great white egret takes off,

spreads its elegant white wings

in flight,

flies back, and flies

way up into a high tree,

arching

its elegant

thin long white neck

A half-grown, great blue

heron takes off as well,

ungainly, kinda,

like it don’t quite know yet

how to fly

I saw it as a baby, earlier

this summer

The now-small pond

is full yet still,

with a solid dozen of teal male ducks

and brown females,

too far away for telling,

but half-grown ducklings,

prob’ly,

all splashing about, paddling and chirping,

in the mud

Storm’ll be comin’ on soon

There’s white clouds on white,

gray clouds on gray,

there’s white ones on gray ones,

and gray ones on white

There’s blue, though, yet and still —

blue, on the other side of the pond,

blue as blue —

and above the golden-green grasses,

with the whites and the grays on the other side,

and the teals and the mallards,

it looks like a landscape portrait paintin’,

just as glorious as you could see

The mimosa

is no longer pink,

it’s long, ridged green pods

are just a-hangin’

I best be gettin’ on now,

that almost-grown

boy’s goin’ off on a weekend trip,

‘fore he goes off in the fall

I want to catch him,

tell him bye

Credits

LANDSCAPE Cover Design: Lucas Barth

LANDSCAPE Cover Painting: John T. Morgan

LANDSCAPE Cover Photo: Dan Schultz

Author Photo: Lucas Barth

Reborn Photo: Neil Dent