Dewpoints: Poems

DEWPOINTS is a retrospective collection of poems that Laura Bernell wrote, till the time she was 67-years-old from when she was 10-years-old. A dewpoint, as the author sees it, is that instant at which amorphous thought and feeling solidify into an awareness that is so intense it forms into words. Each poem in this collection came from one of those moments. Each of these moments takes time to develop and comes unexpectedly. Each is precious. The resulting poem, or poetic dewpoint, may melt away. But at the time of its forming, each is a miraculous gift, no less than a drop of dew.
These poems are arranged in reverse chronological order, because that is what felt right. No pedantry or intentional message is intended by this arrangement. But maybe there is a story in the sequence, a story about going back to innocence.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laura Bernell took up writing as soon as she could hold a pencil and form letters. Writing became her source of sustenance and sanity. She began publishing in 1984, when her twin sons were four, mostly in local newspapers, parenting presses, and Jewish publications. She became a staff feature writer at Bay Area Parent and at the Jewish Community News of San Jose. She has published short stories, poems and narrative essays, though novels keep vying for her attention.
Ancillary to writing, Laura taught English for the California Community College system for 35 years. She likes to think she instilled some love of language and literature in some students.
She continues to write and to teach and is grateful for opportunities to do both professionally.
Writing is often a solitary and compulsive activity. Laura has learned to find gratification also in connections with others, especially with her three precious grandchildren. But always, always there is that pull to put experiences, perceptions and responses into words, as moments of awareness solidify into new dewpoints.
Laura lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, as do her sons and their families. For that, she is most grateful of all.