LEFT COAST WRITERS FERRY PLAZA BOOK PARTY: Marianne Betterly, Author of The Return of the Bees
Monday, October 10th, 2016 || 6pm Book Passage || San Francisco 1 Ferry Building, San Francisco ||www.bookpassage.com
Marianne Betterly’s new book of poetry The Return of the Bees focuses on nature, love, loss, the streets of San Francisco, fairy tales and the synchronicity of events. A believer in auguries, old and new, she loves to discover hidden meaning floating on a double latte, in a swarm of bees or in a murder of crows.
“A wild ride, a rollercoaster, an invitation to engage—these poems are like jazz: sweet, sexy, sad, full of joy. They can color a planet, lift a spirit, carry us away …”
—Linda Watanabe McFerrin, author of Namako, The Hand of Buddha, and Dead Love
“The Return of the Bees, by Marianne Betterly, is a deeply moving book. The subject of these poems is journeys, not just physical journeys to distant places, but also emotional and spiritual journeys through sorrow and loss to the edge of the soul, where ‘We are alone/in altered states/without baggage/of bodies,’ but still can take note when ‘Suddenly the sun pierces the sky,/lighting puddles, placing halos on tree tops/for a moment of brilliance.’”
— Lucille Lang Day, author of Married at Fourteen and Becoming an Ancestor
Marianne Betterly writes poetry about synchronicity, love and loss, wild animals, fairy tales, wanderings in Burma, Japan, Mexico, Nepal and the streets of San Francisco. Her poetry has been published widely in books and journals including The River of Earth and Sky, The Widows’ Handbook, Between the Fault Lines, Turning a Train of Thought Upside Down, The Legendary, New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan, Hot Flashes, Southern Sampler, Green Silk Journal, San Diego Poetry Annual 2014-15, Specter Magazine, and the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal. Marianne lives in a house in Kensington once owned by the great grand-nephew of Ralph Waldo Emerson.