Penny Johnson's first book of poetry is a personal exploration of life through the small but significant moments of memory.
The Author
Penny Johnson is Christian, a young mother, and a poet. Her debut book The Last Time We Were Children, celebrates the pains and pleasures that make up every day life. Her poems delve into her roles as Christian, mother, and poet to explore the universal qualities of life and relationships. She reveals to us that the true wealth that is often found in seemingly mundane moments.
The Book
Sometimes, the idea of reading a book of poetry can be intimidating. Johnson’s poetry does not intimidate the reader and will suit both those who wish to read something easy and refreshing as well as those who want to read something with substance.
It is a book that can be read in one sitting or indulged in quick-pick-ups here and there as the mood indicates.
The Poems
Johnson’s poems investigates the scope of daily life from the birth to death from supper to camping trips she touches on the moments we all have in common. Who has not experienced a meal where the past collides with the present?
Johnson’s opening poem Chicken A La King presents a humorous portrayal of the childhood refrain “I don’t like it” and how it echoes down the passages of our life from the time we first say it to the day we hear our own children say it. And yet, as she so aptly reminds us, life is found in those unexpected but mundane moments. “I place the spoon in the bowl, / stirring up the memory / bright red as the pimientos. / It pops up warm, / soaking in deep like melted butter” (17)
Her poem, Streets, explores how identity is lost and found in the places we live. It is one of the longer poems in the book but is divided into 12 sections with each section identified by a location name. Each section sketches a memory of the location that renders not only a physical place but the emotional coordinates of the speaker.
Near the end of the book, Johnson writes a humorous yet revealing account After a Conversation with My Husband. It reveals and revels in a relationship where two people are so intertwined that they “sometimes even speak in unison” (77) and yet recognizes the reality of two distinct individuals one who lives in a metaphorical world and another who lives in a cyber-world.
Recommendation
The Last Time We Were Children by Penny J. Johnson is for anyone who realizes that best parts of life are made up of the small moments and mundane actions of our lives. Like all poets, Johnson explores birth and death but her most deft portraits of life and, of death come in the little details.
Johnson, Penny J. The Last Time We Were Children. Tate Publishing & Enterprises, 2007. ISBN 978-1-6024773-0-x
To find out more about Penny Johnson and her books check out her website Penny's Pages Online.
