By John L. Holgerson
Publication Date: May 24, 2021
Publisher: In Case of Emergency Press
Format: Paperback/ebook
Size: 6 x 0.19 x 9
ISBN: 978-0-6485571-8-0
Many of the poems in Convictions of the Heart were written while living on the Greek island of Hydra. Some are about the island itself, some are about events that occurred there. And, in different ways, every poem in this book was inspired by it. In March,1970, I visited Hydra for the first time as a student on holiday from the University of London in England. I was 22 years old and had been writing poetry seriously…or trying to…for nearly five years. Although I was only on Hydra for three days, something inexplicable happened to me: I fell in love with the place. When I left, I stood on the bow of the ferry, watched as the horseshoe shaped harbor disappeared and vowed that some day soon I would return. Twenty-five years later, I did and, with but a few exceptions, I have traveled there every year since and stayed for longer and longer periods of time. George Slater, an American poet, said this about Hydra: “It’s just the place. It gets in your bones. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s just the place.” Those words are also true for me; they constitute one of the deepest convictions of my heart.
Audio Recording by the Author
Things Remembered
Those left behind alone
Gypsy Woman Dancing
Hydra 2019
Reviews
Whether addressing alibis, crimes, or loves—poets, painters, or thieves, Holgerson’s poems are marked by wit and wickedness.
— DANIELLE LEGROS GEORGES, former Poet Laureate city of Boston, Massachusetts
“The sky melts/blue to indigo/you want to dip your pen in it/to write what/antiquity/has left for you/to say…..” This John Holgerson has done; he has dipped his pen into Hydra, America, the art of writing, and back to Hydra where he mixes images of the land and the people with spirituality, with soul. Once you’ve indulged yourself a blissful afternoon to read, you will carry the words, the pictures, forward; and you will pass them on, in some way. Of this you can be sure.
— RENE SCHWIESOW, author of Shades
John Holgerson’s, Convictions of the Heart leans in, to the muses of place and memory. Many of the poems, written in and (often) about time spent on the Greek Island of Hydra are infused with languor matched with a sensual aliveness. Holgerson is at his best when gathering the fine details of the senses into scenes that make us want to sit in a certain taverna beneath an arbor or traverse a particular solitary path where we may stumble on the ghost of Leonard Cohen. Other poems reach across decades, reminding us that “then and now [are] married forever/strong and fragile as the/small and resolute red apple stem.” Auguries come from odd places—wistfulness is allowed—some loves last.
— MIRIAM O’NEAL, author of The Body Dialogues
Holgerson’s meticulous, eloquent style transcends time. He captures the vulnerable & delicate nature of trust, desire and pain and its complex and painful weight on the heart of the human condition. Holgerson knows, a well-guarded secret, is a secret none the less.
— RICHARD BERG, poet and former co-host of For the Love of Words
Hydra in the late 1960s/early 1970s, as I first saw it, is pictured on the cover of Convictions of the Heart. Above is how Hydra looks today. (click to enlarge)
