Customer Reviews:

• "What a nice concept for a chapbook, poems written after one has turned eighty! I really like the simplicity of that theme. As a fan of Emily Romano's, I would like to give the reasons I enjoyed her latest chapbook, AFTER EIGHTY. I recently finished reading numerous chapbooks put out by free verse poets. But as much as I enjoy a good free verse poem, I sometimes find this style a bit difficult to fathom. I'll be reading lines and then realize my focus has strayed and I don't even know what I am reading anymore! When I found out Ms. Romano was publishing another chapbook, I was excited to see it because I so love her way of writing poetry of the unrhymed variety, and I imagined it was a book of that style. When I began reading the poems in AFTER EIGHTY, however, I quickly realized the poems were almost all rhymed poems. I have nothing against rhyme. I just want to see it done well, and I am happy to report that, true to form, Emily has done rhyme right! Her poetry has good meter, and the clear descriptive style of the poems in this chapbook made this book a joy for me to read. I liked how I was able to sit down and read through it in a short time and not find myself struggling to understand anything at all. Just to be in the moment reading a small book of uncomplicated but well-written and thoughtful poetry, for me, is a pure delight.

AFTER EIGHTY offers up a variety of themes, beginning with verse that reflects her childhood memories and then moving on to poems of the imagination or of nature, with a little humor sprinkled in to some of them! Finally, I like the way the book finishes with an acknowledgment page of the poems that won awards in Shadow Poetry contests. I was able to recognize some of them as favorites of mine I am already familiar with, those in particular being beautiful reflective pieces such as "Thoughts by the Bay," "September Song," "Send Me," and "When Dew Lay Soft Upon the Grass." I was able to read other poems in her chapbook for which I think she could also win awards. Some of these were the poems "A Sense of Home," "Portrait of a Virgin," November Thoughts," a humorous one entitled "The Cat in Winter," a melancholy soulful one called "Sometimes," and a playful cute poem relating herself to dancers: "The Exception." If you are a person who enjoys quality rhyming poetry, you will find something sure to please you in AFTER EIGHTY." - Andrea Dietrich

• "I love everything about After Eighty from the delightfully simple brush drawing on the cover (my Zennist art professor in college would have said it "lives," which it truly does) to the last poem, which serves as the poet's reflective overview of her life.

There's a home-y-ness about this collection, yet it reveals Emily's broad range of character from down-home to mystic. She has her feet planted in the past, present and future while she moves freely between them. I can relate to "Rugged Ma," remembering my own mother braiding rugs from scraps. "Buttercups," one of my favorites, focuses on the present moment. "From the Leg Bone of a Swan" contains past, present, and future, down-home and mystical, all magically interwoven into a solidly written poem. Is it an unconscious self-portrait of the poet?

After Eighty is a nice insight into the life of Emily Romano. We are fortunate she shares it with us." - Carolyn Thomas

• "AFTER EIGHTY by Emily Romano is a wonderful addition to her previous eight chapbooks, all available from Shadow Poetry/Shadows Ink Publications. And whether you are familiar with her work or new to it, you will find much to enjoy here. Emily is my mother so I am particularly pleased to see included several poems about her childhood and biographical ones of her parents, grandfather, teachers and others that have influenced her life and her writing. One of my favorites is “A Walk in the Woods” which tells a story about a memory of her father:

            One summer day we walked together,
            Enjoying balmy skies and weather;
            Spotting a snake, a blue-black beauty,
            He pinned it down, and with this booty,
            Began to wrap it around my leg –
            Eleven coils, smooth as an egg!

Throughout this book of mostly rhyming poems, you will sense the author’s deep respect for nature, people, and places that linger in her heart. “September Song” is one of these:

            The gourds are heavy on the vine,
            The grapes are ripened for the wine,
            The nights are cool, the days are fine,
            New Jersey in September.

Some poems evoke a sense of mystery as in “Up In The Rafters”, “Signposts”, “The Minstrel Band”, and “Will-O’-The-Wisp”. Others tell a story as in “My Pony”, “Precognition”, “When Skies Were Dark” and “The Rainbow’s Power”. All are well crafted and a pleasure to read.

AFTER EIGHTY is the perfect companion book to enjoy with a cup of cocoa or curled up in front of a crackling fire. Emily’s poems unfold effortlessly as in this excerpt from “Sometimes”:

            Sometimes when my heart is aching,
            Feeling on the verge of breaking,
            I turn to lovely memories
            To bring my heart a bit of ease;
            These are the memories I keep
            To comfort me when I can’t sleep:
            Wisteria with bumblebees,
            And lilac-scented velvet breeze;

AFTER EIGHTY takes us on a remarkable passage where, as in the final poem, “Rainbow Journey”, all colors blend. I highly recommend AFTER EIGHTY." - Margaret R. Smith

• "All the poems in this book were written after Emily Romano’s eightieth birthday. Romano is a prolific, award winning poet who springs from rugged ancestors and writes about life with enthusiasm. Whether memorializing people and places or butterflies and bumblebees, her youthful zest is infectious.

As we age, our memories become more precious than money or possessions. Romano captures and shares memories simply and beautifully, as in this excerpt from “Another Time:”

            So many stories I could spin
            From childhood, now that I am old;
            The veil between worlds growing thin,
            I treasure memories, like gold.

Her memories bring with them scents and sounds, soothing sights. Nothing expresses the comfort of memories better than this excerpt from “Sometimes:”

            Wisteria with bumblebees,
            And lilac-scented velvet breeze;
            Skies flushed pink at early dawn,
            And robins running on the lawn;
            Tall tiger lilies burning bright;
            White dogwood in a full moon’s light.
            Sometimes when my heart is breaking,
            Memories can soothe the aching.

Those of us who’ve reached a certain age can empathize with Ms. Romano’s journey and her devotion to memories stored along the way. This poet is a woman who celebrates the times of her life, the good and the bad. “Rainbow Journey” is a legacy of sorts, and so I quote this powerful poem in its entirety:

            I’ve traveled ridges of red…
            Woman’s blood:
            Menstrual blood, birth blood.

            I’ve traveled the orange trail…
            Sunrise, sunset;
            Warmth of fire.

            I’ve traveled the yellow brick road…
            The road of fantasy,
            Fueled by imagination.

            I’ve traveled the green causeway…
            Lingering beside the still waters
            Of introspection and reflection.

            I’ve traveled the blue highway…
            Where nights were long,
            And filled with sorrow.

            I’ve traveled the purple spirit-path…
            Communing with poets
            And passionate creators.

            It’s been a long journey…
            But finally, near the rainbow’s end,
            All colors blend.

Through her art and poetry, Emily Romano shatters all pre-conceived ideas of age limitations when it comes to creativity. Her voice is as strong, or maybe stronger, now that she’s in her eighties. Romano is a woman who savors life and shares it through her gifts." - Laurel Johnson

• "I first opened After Eighty when I was on an airplane flying up the east coast. The person seated next to me became so interested in what I was reading, that I read her some of the poems. She was so delighted with them, that I gave her my then only copy, and reordered another when I returned home. That’s just one example of how this chapbook will continue to pull in the interest of readers; it seems to have its own people magnetism with words that we can all relate to from our own life experiences, spun into rhythm and rhyme.

Emily Romano is my mother, and her pen & ink rendition of Grandma on page one is such a remarkable likeness that it brings back many fond childhood memories. In its accompanying poem, “Rugged Ma,” we read this excerpt:

            Past eighty now, her fingers stitch
            More braids together, how I itch
            To sketch her there, and so I do.

The following poems talk of walks in the woods with her father, memories of her grandfather, her teachers, and in “A Sense of Home” we are treated with the genre of a typical home town. Other poems speak of contemplative nature and seasonal observations. Here are a few stanzas from one of my favorites, “September Song,” which speaks of my home state:

            Wild geese cry hoarsely from their throats,
            And starlings grow their speckled coats.
            While robins sing their farewell notes,
            New Jersey in September.

            The evening’s chill demands long sleeves,
            Pigeons seek out the warmer eaves.
            The mourning dove more loudly grieves,
            New Jersey in September.

In her poem, “Soft Upon My Ear,” I find the heart of the philosophy of this book, penned by this over 80 year old poet, as the final stanza tells us:

            Now bright visages returning
            Bring about a woeful yearning
            For those times of joyful living
            When there was no need for grieving:
            Soft upon my ear are falling
            Voices softly calling, calling...

With carefully skilled pen in hand, Romano has created picturesque poetic vignettes of highlighted memories in reaching After Eighty and adeptly demonstrates how fruitful and productive our lives continue to be." –Jan Turner, author of Reflections of The Inner Eye; coauthor of Faery Folk & Fireflies.

• How often do you hear those words, " stop and smell the roses " ? Emily has and does do just that and you will find yourself drinking in her experience with each of her words.

Her poem "Prelude to Winter" softens the edges of my hectic day and give me a moment of tranquility

            "Weeping cherry branches sway
            like women's skirts, this windy day;
            Sparsely leafed now, slender birches
            Bend in ballet..."

- Carol Kelly