Most parents dealing with children with special needs are so overwhelmed that they have little energy or inclination to record the experience, which also involves, to an extent, reliving it. Not so for Swampscott’s M.W. MacKay. An editor for Lippincott for over 20 years who holds a Masters in English Literature from Temple University, MacKay turned to poetry to keep her balance.
The result is a book of poems, Hope runs through it.
Hope runs through it is a narrative collection and tells the story of MacKay’s raising a creative, talented, loving son burdened with OCD, anxiety, and other issues. The poems resonate, however, with any parent whose child does not fit into our increasingly narrow definition of what is “normal.” Dispersed within the book are poems about the natural world and the nature of spirituality.
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The public is invited to listen to MacKay read today, Sunday, Nov. 18, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm in the Cloister Room at the Church of St. Andrews Layfayette Street, Marblehead.
Books will be available for purchase and are also available the local Spirit of ’76 Bookstores, as well as on-line, and through the publisher, Four Square Press.
