The Storm Left No Flowers

Review
At the outset of Barbara Robidoux’s The Storm Left No Flowers, she warns, “We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction,” yet extends her premise to say, “the earth maintains her beauty.” In here, delicate words to articulate that beauty; further, we find ourselves standing in a still and expansive space to appreciate. To see. Amid barbed wire, old dented Chevy Novas, candy wrappers and cigarette butts, there’s the Rio Chama and beaver dams, cattails, cottonwood, juniper and cholla cactus. Yet this is not a collection that lulls and rocks us into earthy bliss. There’s an underlying, palpable current of electricity; an urgency, line by line, as Robidoux implores us to “remember the sanctity and continuum of life on this planet,” and ultimately, to “align yourself with the good winds.” I thank Robidoux for this shake at my shoulder, her voice waking me to see “the world is tattered, torn to its core.”
Layli Long Soldier

“These poems took my breath away. Robidoux has written a love poem to the earth and all her inhabitants. Her words open up new and ancient ways to see what surrounds us. It is a book I will return to always.”
Demetria Martinez poet Breathing Between the Lines and The Devil’s Workshop

“We live in indisputable difficult times for the earth and its inhabitants. In the midst of ecological disaster and rapid change beauty can still be found-by looking squarely at reality without false hope or false fear. Barbara Robidoux is the poet for this task. With her sensitivity to landscape and terrain, her unflinching eye notes the world around us. These poems are full of lyric hope and yes, even redemption, but without denial. The poet’s path ranges from Maine to the Southwest, from practicalities to the realms of spirit. These poems can help what ails us.”
Miriam Sagan author of Seven Places in America: A Poetic Sojourn
About the Author
Barbara Robidoux is a poet, storyteller and lover of the earth. She lives in northern New Mexico where she roams the mountains and mesas of sacred places where she makes offerings for their renewal.