The Spiral Sapling

Karen's poetry is playful, and earnest, sometimes in the same poem. These poems can make you chuckle, or cry. She uses free verse, rhymes, songs, and tightly structured sonnets. Her poems are always accessible, Their meanings may be layered, but you won't have to spend a lot of time trying to figure them out. She writes of temptation, and loyalty, and loss, and finds inspiration in the natural world. She writes for seniors, children and adults. Her poems reveal some moments from a lifetime of paying attention. They build up a picture of a woman you might like to know.




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"A welcome calm comes over me when I read Karen Sayfert's poems. There are deep, still waters here, the kind that quench a thoughtful reader's thirst. There are questions answered and questions left alone. There are plainspoken moments of grief and decorative rhymes of whimsy. And everywhere, there is honesty and wonder." -Gretchen Primack, author of Kind and Visiting Days




"With the agility and grace of a poet in love with words, Karen Seyfert moves from the playful to the serious without missing a beat. This is a treasury of heartfelt poems." -Abigail Thomas, writer whose books include Safekeeping: A Three Dog Life and What Comes Next and How to Like It




"These poems waltz with words. They swoop and loop with lyricism and humor. As in the waltz, beneath the flourishes of language, there is form: rhyme, the blues, sonnets. William Wordsworth wrote: Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility. Form is a vessel Karen Seyfert uses to recall and express regret, grief and love. She is a writer devoted to family, faith and the natural world. Her poems reveal an open mind, and more importantly an open and generous heart." -Kate Hymes, Founder, Wallkill Valley Writers