So here’s a simple wakeful dream:

That words will come into my head

Pass through my fingers

Dance on the page

Have grace and rhythm

Make sense and reason

And when someone reads them, make her think,

“Ah yes, that’s how it is.”

These lines, from “Dream a Poem,” sum up Hazel Cope’s approach to expressing life in verse. By turns joyfully playful and quietly meditative, her book, NEWBORN and Other Poems, reflects the endless variety, complexity, challenges, and glory of an eventful life lived long in the company of a wonderful family and friends.

There is something for every poetry afficionado in this collection, which plays with many different forms and styles. Themes range from life and death to the world around us and the art of writing poetry itself. Whimsical drawings and beautiful photographs taken by Cope’s husband, Alan, add vibrance to the pages. Representing the culmination of twenty years’ writing, Newborn is eclectic in its format and themes, but Cope weaves it all into cohesion with her distinctive narrative voice. Her insights, both sombre and sweet, will leave a lasting impression, and her wry observations will resonate with every reader.

Hazel Cope was born and raised in England, growing up during the Second World War. After living and working in several cities across Europe, she settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she lived with her husband for nearly forty years. She has worked as a nurse and a journalist and remains interested in current events. Now residing in Boulder, Colorado, Cope is a dedicated grandmother as well as an avid gardener and nature lover. She is a contributor and co-editor, with Alan Cope, of WWII (We Were There) (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, 2012). Pictured above is Hazel and her granddaughter, Julia, whose technological assistance was essential in creating this book.