Now and Here

In this beautifully presented book, poet Naomi Beth Wakan joins photographer Christine Brooks Cote to offer glimpses into their "now and here." Wakan wrote tanka-a format of five-line poems originating in Japan-in response to photographs by Cote. Wakan chose this particular format because it starts with an objective description of the image- "Early morning / the dew still resting / where it settled"-and then pivots to the poet's subjective reaction-"would we could wake refreshed / to look at things in new ways". Cote's photographs are the perfect inspiration for a poet-"you're looking at my life and what I love; you're seeing bits and pieces of places I have been; and you're catching glimpses of the best moments of my life." The title, Now and Here, comes from Henry David Thoreau: " . . . all these times and places and occasions are now and here."