February Mission,Used

Product Description February Mission is a collected volume of poetry and plays by a man whos spent a lifetime paying attention to his muse. As a young boy in rural Alabama, Jim Harrell was introduced to the pleasures of writing, and though he made his career as a businessman, he continued to educate himself about prosody and poetic and dramatic form, writing, always writing, as he is still. Jim Harrells volume is expeditionary, ranging back in time over his own rich history, visiting places hes been and wars hes experienced, friendships shared and loves lost, and life on the littoral coast, which inspires much of his work and describes his emotional home. Like more famous poets before him, Harrell honors what he remembers. From the big and autobiographical, such as the books fine title poem about his experiences in WWII, to the intimate and slyly amusing, Harrells work celebrates life in reclaiming his memories about it. The poetic and dramatic styles in February Mission are as farranging as the topics are broad, but throughout the authors ear is attuned to the complexity of the human experience and our shared humanity. Harrell, though, is no pedant. When you least expect it, he turns cleverness to good effect and with a passing fillip reminds of the humor in a situation, bridging the distance between our histories and his and showing remarkable psychological acuity as well: Reality, we know is fact/Love, we surmise, is fear and fun/One day life is right side up;/And one day upside down. In the end, a lovely balancetopical and tonalpresides over this collection of poems and plays. Its present in Harrells voice, which is simultaneously wise and humble, compassionate and seductive. Wade far enough into the book, and you will experience its tidal pull, which is the authors love of words and ideas and his hope that we too should know the pleasures which define this collection and which bespeak life on the literary coast. Maybeyou can almost hear him whisperyou have a poem or a play in you. Review As one who all too rarely has time to venture outside of the technical literature of my specialized profession, I was overwhelmed by the way that this collection of poems and plays by James Harrell grips both the mind and the heart from the very outset. From the beginning, the reader is flown backward to a time of intense turmoil, both militarily and personally to the relentless bombing of densely populated civilian areas of Germany culminating in the bombing of Dresden in February 1942. The emotions and tears of those fliers blanket the passages as the reality of the resulting human cost emerges. Interspersed are the experiences and emotions, the serious and the light encounters of one who returns home to a life full of incredible experiences magically captured in verse. On top of this, Jim Harrell is a great storyteller as illustrated by his three alluring and capturing plays that have something for everyone. Enjoy! I did! Gary Lyman, professor of medicine and oncologyJames Harrells poetry shows his ability to make poetry from any of the varied experiences of his life and his imagination. He draws on a wide range: probing discussions with dear friends, memories of depression days in a rural area; the reactions of a dying patient to a visitor; the terror and anguish of a youthful flyer on a bombing mission, the delight of being with a lover as well as the sadness of parting; and even the wider questions raised by the death of a lizard.In all of his poems, one is aware of his intense eye, which observes both the outer world and the landscape of his mind, translating it to us with clarifying imagery.And all his observations are filtered through the screen of his fierce dedication to the demands of form, rhythm, and rhyme, which makes his poetic achievement even more remarkable. Barbara Nicholls, freelance writer and teacherFebruary Mission is a rich and various collection of James N. Harrell's most re