Victory Garden: Poems

By Glenna Luschei

Rooted in the Midwest but at home anywhere, Glenna Luschei has spent over fifty years writing and supporting other writers in the midst of adventures that have taken her around the globe. Now in her late eighties and as vibrant as ever, Luschei has crafted a collection that comprises a retrospective of her life: her youth during World War II; her adventures in New Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, and elsewhere; and her ongoing love affair with the arts. Luschei relives highs and lows through these poems and reminds readers to live life to the fullest as we never know if tomorrow will be our last day. Join Luschei as she embraces the gift of living and a life that is full of hope and love rather than regret in this reflective work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Release date: Feb 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9780826364531

Glenna Luschei

Glenna Luschei is the author of more than twenty-five books, including The Sky Is Shooting Blue Arrows: Poems (UNM Press), and she is the founder and publisher of Solo Press. She lives in San Luis Obispo, California.

Book preview

Part I

THREE STRANGE ANGELS

"Who is the knocking?

What is the knocking at the door in the night?

It is somebody who wants to do us harm?

No, no, it is the three strange angels. Admit them, admit them."

—D. H. Lawrence

Pilgrimage

Ear to radio, tracking the fire, I remember the photograph of Navajo Code Talkers wearing headphones in Iwo Jima.

They transmitted Marine Code Diné, a language the enemy had never heard, could not break.

All night I stay awake clinging to bulletins

until firemen pound on my door, hand me a mask.

Go now.

Through swirling ash and cinder they lead me to my car.

I race away from flame, dodge flying branches.

From my rearview mirror, the fire tunnels down the mountain toward my ranch.

I fly in safety to low-slung Albuquerque,

air so clean it