Naked Ladies Bloom in Autumn by Susan Willey Spalt
This is Ms Spalt's second book. Her first, Longer If It's Raining, was published in 2016.
Who can resist the title: Naked Ladies Bloom in Autumn? Susan Willey Spalt keeps flying throughout her poems of discovery—the pitfalls and joys of aging, the wisdom of children, how moving iris from shade to sun brings blooms. She allows us, as readers, to embrace life without knowing it, to cherish unfinished poems. And she gives us what she keeps close, her griefs and fears. Susan’s poetry endows us with “the morning of the sun.”
- Jo Barbara Taylor, author of One or Two Feathers, High Ground, and How to Come and Go
Reading Susan Spalt's poems on a rainy afternoon is a sacred act. Each one is round and solid and bears light. I read them all the way through from start to finish, and then backwards again.
- Gary Phillips, 2016-2019 poet laureate of Carrboro, North Carolina.
Susan Willey Spalt lives in Carrboro, NC. Her poems reflect her belief that poetry is not only for esoteric journals - but is part of everyday life. Her poetry has appears in some unexpected places. She rhymed the school district's lice policy and one of her poems was set to music to celebrate Carrboro's 100th anniversary. Her poems have also appeared in numerous anthologies, including Annapurna (Red Dashboard Press, 2015), Disorder (Red Dashboard Press, 2014 and 2017), A Tether to This World (Main Street Rag, 2021) and in Pinesong (NC Poetry Society). Susan is one of four poets in Carrboro Poetica, a 2012 collection of poems published by Old Mountain Press. Her first chapbook is Longer If It's Raining (Red Dashboard Press). She is the author of a memoir Back When We Were Italian (Sable Books, 2019) and a collaborating author of Finding Hope, a Practical Guide for Families Affected by Mental Illness Drawn From the Experience of Families Like Yours (Sable Books, 2019).