Sudden White Fan

ISBN-10: 162549260X
Cherry Grove Collections (2018)$18.00
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Out of the darkness, burdens are lifted, “the sudden white fan of ascent” - these are the concerns of Veronica Patterson’s Collection, a continual journey to the light.

“In language spare yet elegant, stylish with a sly wit, Veronica Patterson wryly observes the world around her: the domestic, the everyday, the natural world. A gentle yet keen humor emanates from the stories there poems tell and the stories’ revelation of how ‘pain abrades into self-knowledge.’ ‘nothing’ is life, love, death. How modest the poet is! Is she really ‘a wing, not flight,’ or is she instead a wing as it fans out to lift into flight and to astonish the onlooker?”
 ~ Mary Crow

Praise for Veronica Patterson’s Previous Work

“What I like about [Patterson’s work] is how naturally it makes its moves. As the story opens, the dreaming speaker is drawn into an alley strewn with flowers and fruit, which … creates a sense of the forthcoming abundance … From this beginning, the poet journeys outward to her mother as a thousand-faced cup, to her father as a red-haired boy, to the samovar of a great-aunt, who ‘died of having lived.’ I can only congratulate the poet on a fine, heartfelt, delicate.”
 ~ Lola Haskins

“Characterized by remarkable invention and wit, in rare combination with philosophical depth and genuine feeling, [Patterson’s work] deserves wide circulation.”
 ~ Leonard Trawick

& it had rained

ISBN: 978-1625490179
WordTech Communications $17.00 
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The rapid-fire rhythms in Veronica Patterson’s "& it had rained," charged with the lyricism of poetry and the ruminative strides of prose paragraphs, enlarge the reader's awareness of the world: bird, wings, rain, water.

Praise for Veronica Patterson’s Previous Work:

“What I like about [Patterson's work] is how naturally it makes its moves. As the story opens, the dreaming speaker is drawn into an alley strewn with flowers and fruit, which . . . creates a sense of the forthcoming abundance . . . From this beginning, the poet journeys outward to her mother as a thousand-faced cup, to her father as a red-haired boy, to the samovar of a great-aunt, who 'died of having lived. I can only congratulate the poet on a fine, heartfelt, delicate work.”
 ~ Lola Haskins

“Characterized by remarkable invention and wit, in rare combination with philosophical depth and genuine feeling, [Patterson's work] . . . deserves wide circulation.”
 ~ Leonard Trawick

Thresh & Hold

ISBN 978-0-9819018-3-1
Big Pencil Press $15.95
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Click here to read an excerpt from Thresh & Hold

Poems by Veronica Patterson
Winner of the 2009 Gell Prize for Poetry

From the introduction by poet Lola Haskins, who selected the book for the prize:

“What I like about Thresh & Hold is how naturally it makes its moves. As the story opens, the dreaming speaker is drawn into an alley strewn with flowers and fruit, which . . . creates a sense of the forthcoming abundance . . .”

“From this beginning, the poet journeys outward to her mother as a thousand-faced cup, to her father as a red-haired boy, to the samovar of a great-aunt, who ‘died of having lived.’”

“I can only congratulate the poet on a fine, heartfelt, delicate work.”

Swan, What Shores? 

ISBN-10: 0814766854  
New York University Press (2000) $20.00
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Among Patterson's collections of poetry is the award-winning Swan, What Shores?  

Winner of the Colorado Book Award
Winner of the Willa Literary Award
Finalist for the Academy of American Poets’ 2000 James Laughlin Award

"Characterized by  remarkable invention and wit, in rare combination with philosophical depth and genuine feeling, Swan, What Shores? . . . deserves wide circulation."

 ~ Leonard Trawick, Professor Emeritus and former editor, Cleveland State University Poetry Center

Swan, What Shores?  also won annual poetry awards from both the Colorado Center for the Book and Women Writing the West.

How to Make a Terrarium

ISBN-10: 0914946625
Cleveland State University Poetry Center (1987) $12.50  
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Patterson's first collection of poetry               

Maneuvers: Battle of the Little Bighorn Poems

Finishing Line Press $12
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Poems by Veronica Patterson

In her Pushcart Prize–nominated poem “Signatures,” the poet lists in a dense paragraph the “artifacts” collected on the Little Bighorn battlefield: “cartridge case arrowhead rib bullet obliquely severed cervical vertebra . . .” Included in the list is a “general-service button (blue wool attached),” and in the next poem she tells the human story behind this “artifact”: a sister carefully sewing the button as her brother is anxious to leave for war. Patterson artfully shows that each object gathered after war has an emotionally charged story attached.

 ~ Brian Daldorph, Editor Coal City Review, author of Jail Time

The poet asks: “Why write about a past / buried in books, dirt, controversy?” Veronica Patterson's new collection centers on the story and its place in history—bespeaking of demons and dangers, and the aftermath. Maneuvers: Battle of the Little Bighorn Poems is a brilliant gem of a book.

 ~ Leah Maines, Publisher, Finishing Line Press

This Is the Strange Part

Pudding House Publications (2002)
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A chapbook of prose poems

My Griefs to Sing: Plans and Writing Prompts for an Eight-Week Writing Through Loss Workshop.

Patterson has taught classes and led workshops, including one for adults grieving the loss of a loved one. This innovative workshop was developed in conjunction with Nancy Jakobsson, then Pathways Services Director, Pathways Hospice of Larimer County.

My Griefs to Sing, by Veronica Patterson with Nancy Jakobsson, published by Pathways Hospice, captures ten years’ experience with the Writing Through Loss workshop. The easy-to-use book presents the workshop structure, weekly writing prompts, brief essays on grief issues, and examples of participants’ work.

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The Bones Remember: A Dialogue 

ISBN-10: 0963345508
Stone Graphics; First Edition edition (1992)
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A collection of Veronica Patterson's poetry and Ronda Stone's photography.