Poetic Visions

Poetic Visions, Andrea Burdick's sixth and most recent book, is a deeply personal exploration of the genre of poetry. Throughout Andrea's career as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, poetry has been her earliest and most consistent writing genre. Until now, most of this poetry has not been published in book form. Because of the highly personal nature of the content, there was, at first, a certain reluctance to share it. Much of what is now called New Age Spirituality was once considered "woo- woo" at best, and just plain nuts by many. Poetic Visions ventures into new territory requiring the kind of courage necessary for facing the truth of relationships with self and others. Andrea has described this as "Coming out as a poet." As humans, we fear that since bad things happen to good people, we must have done something wrong to deserve our suffering. The truth is that our soul grows, expands and develops by accepting that each and every one of us has strengths and gifts which grew out of learning how to overcome suffering. When we claim and own our worth we are given a full understanding that life simply is what it is, with equal measure of joy and suffering, The collection contains a good deal of entertainment value, fun, humor, word play, and rhyme. This in-depth collection of poetry written throughout the author's long life reveals a willingness to speak with increasing authority and genuine authenticity. The poetry is a kind of Legacy which future generations can read to understand tumultuous times. Bob Dylan's lyrics,"The times they are a-changing" was not only true in the turbulent 1960's when Andrea was entering adolescence, but is still true. Recently, Americans can barely recognize how our government has circumvented the rule of law and disregarded the constitution. The second millennium began with a worldwide pandemic and moved into a time of tremendous political, gender, technological and scientific change. At a time of a growing spiritual awakening and escalating feminist sensibilities, new visions and revisions have brought about changes of monumental proportions. Poetic Visions, is a compilation of decades of poetry, across a long, varied and rich lifetime. No one escapes from life unscathed. The question is how do you find the gratitude which enables you to be a loving force in the world, despite hardships. As Bette Davis once said, "Aging is not for sissies." I was shaken up by finding out I have Alzheimer's until I decided to live the best life I could, despite a scary diagnosis. Both life and poetry includes everything from humor to pathos. I have written Poetic Visions in order to leave behind a legacy of what I've learned which has enabled me to accept reality with equanimity and love. As Oscar Hammerstein II wrote in his song lyrics, "The love in your heart wasn't put there to stay, love isn't love 'til you give it away."