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CAROLYNE
VAN DER MEER
Books
Motherlode : A Mosaic of Dutch Wartime Experience
Motherlode: A Mosaic of Dutch Wartime Experience is Carolyne Van Der Meer’s creative reinterpretation through short stories, poems, and essays of the experiences of her mother and other individuals who either spent their childhoods in Nazi-occupied Holland or were deeply affected by wartime in Holland. The book documents the author’s personal journey as she uncovers her mother’s past through their correspondence and discussion and through research in the Netherlands. Motherlode also considers mother-daughter relationships and the effect of wartime on motherhood.
Journeywoman
Journeywoman is the story in poems of the explicitly female journey made by women through girlhood, motherhood and beyond. The play on the word journeyman is intentional with the notion of completing an apprenticeship and seeking mastery of the trade implicit. The actual journey, both physical and intellectual, however, is what brings woman to that state of mastery and Journeywoman, through verse, provides just one itinerary. This unique collection explores the stages of womanhood as defined by this author: the waif, the mother and the crone. It invokes the stories of many to describe the process of mastering the craft of being female, with all its inherent complexities. The journey involves not only the physical alterations a woman undergoes through the changing of stages—the metamorphosing required to achieve mastery—but also true travel, the road embarked upon to achieve enlightenment, the attempt to grasp the intangible, the ethereal, the metaphysical, the disembodied, the sacred.
Heart of Goodness: The Life of Marguerite Bourgeoys in 30 Poems
Du cœur à l’âme : La vie de Marguerite Bourgeoys en 30 poèmes
In 1653, Marguerite Bourgeoys arrived in New France, determined to bring faith to the developing Ville-Marie community and education to the young women of the colony (now Montreal). Carolyne Van Der Meer delves into the heart and mind of Marguerite Bourgeoys and, through poetry, explores the hopes and challenges she faced as she established the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. These poems, originally written in English, have been translated by the author into Bourgeoys' native French, thus bringing to life the aspirations of this extraordinary woman who changed history.
Sensorial: A Poetry Collection
Sensorial is a journey in sensory perception. The senses guide us through urban landscapes, animal connections and familial bonds as we consider who we are, where we are—both physically and metaphysically—and what truly matters. Sensorial proposes one set of responses to the never-ending data we process as we navigate through life. In particular, it considers aging and illness on the journey towards life's end-and examines gain and loss in the aggregate.
All This As I Stand By
In All This As I Stand By, her fifth collection, Carolyne Van Der Meer explores the unimportant, the everyday, the avoided, the forgotten. She weaves together details that lurk beneath the surface, the things we don’t notice or refuse to name, and creates a new understanding. Her lens captures an alternate way of looking at cobwebs, textured paint, porch swings, rock formations, roadkill, illness, abuse and loss.
Broken Pieces: Hospital Experiences
Longtime friends and poets Carolyne Van Der Meer and Michael Farry reflect on their individual hospital experiences in this short collection--from their respective desks in Montreal and Trim, Ireland. The poems in Broken Pieces consider these experiences in myriad ways, exploring elements that marked each poet--a kind of metaphysical scarring alongside the physical scars they now bear. Through this collection, their goal is to bring both respect and comfort to the hospital journey.
Birdology
"In Carolyne Van Der Meer’s Birdology we are invited to reassess our understanding of the natural world. Through her poems, the study of birds transcends the scientific, becomes an esoteric branch of knowledge where birds become: metaphors for grief, quiet teachers of Zen acceptance, and psychopomps to the afterlife. Birdology is a narrative of personal traumas, yes, but more than that it is a recognition of the universality of trauma as part and parcel of the cycle of life. The grief of being unable to save a sparrow covered in bird repellent sits side by side with the grief of a loved one on their death bed. Birds bathing in a puddle in carefree abandon sits side by side with the uneasy acceptance of moving a parent into a care home. A seagull prepares to fly the moment a loved one's soul leaves their body, the soul taking its own flight. In all cases, Van Der Meer wrests beauty and meaning from a world that is constantly around us, though we often fail to hear. She hears and, through her poetry, may we hear as well." —Devon Gallant
