A volume of poetry and prose affirming the certitude of aging. In these pages are both the carefree stance of the long-lived and the serious business of broken bones. Seale's poems spell out the patronizing of seasoned flesh, the nobility of canes, the zen of jigsaw puzzles. Essay-ettes comment on writing utensils, deciduous leaves, chronometry, and self-talk. Humor and soulfulness extend to the reader, as well as the inevitability of time and thus the urgency for truthfulness and pleasure.

Jan Seale lives in deep South Texas.  She has authored nine poetry volumes as well as books in fiction, nonfiction, and children's literature.  She is the 2012 Texas Poet Laureate.

Several poems in this collection first appeared in Texas Poetry Assignment including “Family Portrait,” “Seasoned Love,” “Playing the Flute After Long Absence,” “Winter Texans,” “One Sunday Morning,” “Argument: Mesquite Bean Coffee vs. Arabian Coffee,” and “Sailing Over the Moon in Texas.”

For more on this collection: https://www.lamar.edu/literary-press/genre/poetry/elder-skelter.html