Road Dance: Poems

By Elga Antonsen

The poems in Road Dance weave together stories of sacrifice and honor, strength and passion, healing and laughter. Collected from journals and memories that began in McCarthy-era New York City, they follow a crazy carnival journey of raising children, the search for love, self-understanding, and the desire to leave a better planet behind. The tales are evocative and sometimes startling, balancing a high wire between fear and redemption.

“In these poems, Antonsen locates the heavy-hearted compassion that speeds her quest for beauty and social justice. She wisely leavens her pungent truths with a wry humor that makes you laugh at the same time it is breaking your heart."

--Jay Blotcher, journalist-activist

"Antonsen has found enormous power in simple lines which caress the struggle of life forms in the full dimensional spectrum of their expression--from microbe twitch to human tear--etching more deeply the meaning of life with a scant moment of movement behind the eye which can never be measured by the enigma of time."

--G. Alexander Irving, managing editor New Art International

"Compelling incidents seen through a child’s eye with ever present backdrop of government agents in trench coats, a threat to her family and friends--recreated with an innocence Antonsen brings to her poems. With connection to the natural world of mountains, marshes, creeks, herons, falcons and coyotes, these poems are well grounded and rewarding."

--Roberta Gould, author of nine books of poetry, most recently Louder Than Seeds, FootHills Publishing, 2008.

"Antonsen evokes a time Native American spirit still beat in heartland and newer Americans believed they could triumph over the 'evils' as they perceived them. The poems crackle with energy and insight and have the power to transport you to the time and place of their origin."

--Laura Drew Kelly, editor, Camden Friends Newsletter and contributor to Delmarva Publications

Daughter of the only open Communists in Staten Island during the McCarthy era, Erdine, a school teacher and literacy advocate and Zeke, a carpenter, mad scientist and philosopher, Elga Antonsen started out life with the unique perspectives and challenges grown from that time. Originally planning to become a veterinarian or a scientist, Antonsen instead managed to raise three children, while working on her writing. Her published work includes Daring to Dream, New Era Publishers, New York, 1977. Residing in Kingston, New York, she is co-owner of Brillig’s Books, an antiquarian online bookstore with her husband, Bill, and has served in AVP, the Alternatives to Violence program.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elga Antonsen
• Release date: May 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301346097

Elga Antonsen

Daughter of the only open Communists in Staten Island during the McCarthy era, Erdine, a school teacher and literacy advocate and Zeke, a carpenter, mad scientist and philosopher, Elga Antonsen started out life with the unique perspectives and challenges grown from that time. Originally planning to become a veterinarian or a scientist, Antonsen instead managed to raise three children, while working on her writing. Her published work includes Daring to Dream, New Era Publishers, New York, 1977. Residing in Kingston, New York, she is co-owner of Brillig's Books, an antiquarian online bookstore with her husband, Bill, and has served in AVP, the Alternatives to Violence program. With several works of fiction on the burner, she and her sister are presently collaborating on a novel about their childhood as the daughters of Communists. She is also working on a novel based on her experience as a mother to abused children and the former wife of their abuser. When she's not writing, Elga spends her time drumming, gardening, and advocating for environmental as well as womens' and childrens' issues. She also helps edit for the huge horde of Cathers-related authors in her family.

Book preview

Road Dance

Years ago I killed a cat

flashed on the ramp to the Verrazano Bridge,

crying mouth of the Hudson.

I could not stop in heavy traffic

leaping

doing the twist.

Dance of the streets.

My passenger raised her hand

spoke in Yiddish:

"This cat dies in sacrifice for another.

That is what they said in my lost town

where now only grasses grow."

Years pass.

Today I wear my blue felt hat

with darting feathers and Irish wool

turn up the street and look to the east

in the glare of the just risen sun

a cat is doing the road dance.

White fur glistens pink.

I place the cat to rest on the soft green lawn,

and ask, For whom did you die?

Daisy Chains

The peregrine falcon

swoops down for the catch

rips off the