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Poetry about mothering, raising children, and the death of a parent, concluding with a series of 39 lake poems, written in a boathouse. 

Eliot Figman, poet and executive director of POETS & WRITERS magazine, says, "Manfred's subjects are family and friends and lakes in all seasons. Together, they are her 'home.'” 

Poet Robert Bly says, "What I like about these poems is that they are not floating around inthe air or the intellect. The body takes them in. They are brave. The reader and the writer meet each other in the body." 

Carol Bly says, "It is such a relief not to feel that she is lying or pinching other peoples' ideas. I find the poems marvelous -- her great sense of everything being sacred, and at the same time, somehow, really very funny. how can liturgy be a riot? But some of these poems really are." 

Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser, says, "This is a lovely and moving collection of Freya Manfred's responses to a beloved place, written with humility, generosity, and a deep sense of gratitude." 

Professor Charles Woodard says, "There's such a range of believable emotions here, and the poet's voice is so engaging and resonant and true. This is a book of poems for teachers looking for ways to motivate students to care about poetry." 

Ed. Scott King, Red Dragonfly Press, www.reddragonflypress.org. 2003. 100 pgs. (With artwork by Manfred's sons, Bly and Rowan Pope, www.popebrothersart.org.)