AFTER THE STORM, A SHAFT OF SUNLIGHT, poetry by Tony Howarth
Publication Date: January 15, 2025
Paperback, 72 pages
ISBN: 978-1-956782-85-1
The overused adage to “write what you know” has never been better applied than in this collection from nonagenarian poet Tony Howarth, for there seemingly is little he does not know after a lifetime of experience as journalist, traveler, dramatist, educator, and acutely attuned observer of the world around him. His subjects range all over the literal map, his concerns spanning the global and the quotidian. He writes of the vicissitudes of aging, but takes inspiration from an even older neighbor who advised him “if I stop I’ll be lost / I’ll curl up and die / but that isn’t how he did it / first he died / and then he stopped.” Howarth isn’t stopping – “my mind wanders spins a daydream / looking at eternity.” His title describes the moment of solstice at Chaco Canyon, the shaft of light through a peephole celebrating the ceaseless return of the sun. Likewise for this poet – even as he surveys his often turbulent life “where today is both yesterday and tomorrow” he finds “peace with the endlessness of time,” and his vista is before him, and us: “I want to create a glory that’s glowing in the now.”
Praise for Tony Howarth & After the Storm, a Shaft of Sunlight
Tony Howarth has done it again. After the Storm, a Shaft of Sunlight is a lovely and loving journey through the author’s life—family, friends, his teaching experience, his travels from Vilnius to Alaska, Zion National Park to Virginia, ultimately to his own back yard; his intimate connection to the natural world reflected in the sounds and rhythms of every poem. As Tony reflects in his poem, “Tomorrow Today will be Yesterday,” he is at peace with the endlessness of time.
—Beth SKMorris, author of IN THE AFTERMATH: 9/11 Through a Volunteer’s Eyes
In After the Storm, a Shaft of Sunlight, Tony Howarth follows in the tradition of Whitman, Yeats, and Merwin and grapples with both the trials of aging and the wisdom it provides. This speaker has led an extraordinary life for over nine decades—leaving London as a child during the Blitz, teaching tenth grade high school students in a NYC school, triumphing over serious injuries and health problems to reflect upon a life well lived. Howarth’s love of language and his deep empathy for the strangers he encounters permeates the collection. Those of us who will never reach the privilege of his years can, through his work, remind ourselves of the enlightenment it provides—most crucially what’s important in life—our human and natural connections and the love we cultivate during the brief time we are here. As he writes towards the end of the collection, “we sit watch the birds careen / listen to them sing / at home in the still-standing trees.” This is a collection for our present moment where hope and joy are thwarting hatred and fear.
—Jennifer Franklin, author of If Some God Shakes Your House
About the Author
Tony Howarth, a playwright, director, and former journalist, retired in 1991 after twenty-eight years as a teacher of English and theatre at Woodlands High School in Westchester County, New York. He began writing poetry in 2009 after a visit to William Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage, in England’s Lake District, developing his craft at the Hudson Valley Writing Center under the treasured guidance of Jennifer Franklin and Fred Marchant. His poems have appeared in many magazines, among them Chronogram, The Naugatuck River Review, Obsessed with Pipework (England), The Connecticut River Review, Raven’s Perch, The Sow’s Ear, and the Grayson Press anthology Forgotten Women. His verse dramas Wild Man of the Mountain and A Hand to Hold, and his memoir in verse The Griefs That Fate Assigns, were published by Broadstone Books.
Publication Date: January 15, 2025
Paperback, 72 pages
ISBN: 978-1-956782-85-1
The overused adage to “write what you know” has never been better applied than in this collection from nonagenarian poet Tony Howarth, for there seemingly is little he does not know after a lifetime of experience as journalist, traveler, dramatist, educator, and acutely attuned observer of the world around him. His subjects range all over the literal map, his concerns spanning the global and the quotidian. He writes of the vicissitudes of aging, but takes inspiration from an even older neighbor who advised him “if I stop I’ll be lost / I’ll curl up and die / but that isn’t how he did it / first he died / and then he stopped.” Howarth isn’t stopping – “my mind wanders spins a daydream / looking at eternity.” His title describes the moment of solstice at Chaco Canyon, the shaft of light through a peephole celebrating the ceaseless return of the sun. Likewise for this poet – even as he surveys his often turbulent life “where today is both yesterday and tomorrow” he finds “peace with the endlessness of time,” and his vista is before him, and us: “I want to create a glory that’s glowing in the now.”
Praise for Tony Howarth & After the Storm, a Shaft of Sunlight
Tony Howarth has done it again. After the Storm, a Shaft of Sunlight is a lovely and loving journey through the author’s life—family, friends, his teaching experience, his travels from Vilnius to Alaska, Zion National Park to Virginia, ultimately to his own back yard; his intimate connection to the natural world reflected in the sounds and rhythms of every poem. As Tony reflects in his poem, “Tomorrow Today will be Yesterday,” he is at peace with the endlessness of time.
—Beth SKMorris, author of IN THE AFTERMATH: 9/11 Through a Volunteer’s Eyes
In After the Storm, a Shaft of Sunlight, Tony Howarth follows in the tradition of Whitman, Yeats, and Merwin and grapples with both the trials of aging and the wisdom it provides. This speaker has led an extraordinary life for over nine decades—leaving London as a child during the Blitz, teaching tenth grade high school students in a NYC school, triumphing over serious injuries and health problems to reflect upon a life well lived. Howarth’s love of language and his deep empathy for the strangers he encounters permeates the collection. Those of us who will never reach the privilege of his years can, through his work, remind ourselves of the enlightenment it provides—most crucially what’s important in life—our human and natural connections and the love we cultivate during the brief time we are here. As he writes towards the end of the collection, “we sit watch the birds careen / listen to them sing / at home in the still-standing trees.” This is a collection for our present moment where hope and joy are thwarting hatred and fear.
—Jennifer Franklin, author of If Some God Shakes Your House
About the Author
Tony Howarth, a playwright, director, and former journalist, retired in 1991 after twenty-eight years as a teacher of English and theatre at Woodlands High School in Westchester County, New York. He began writing poetry in 2009 after a visit to William Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage, in England’s Lake District, developing his craft at the Hudson Valley Writing Center under the treasured guidance of Jennifer Franklin and Fred Marchant. His poems have appeared in many magazines, among them Chronogram, The Naugatuck River Review, Obsessed with Pipework (England), The Connecticut River Review, Raven’s Perch, The Sow’s Ear, and the Grayson Press anthology Forgotten Women. His verse dramas Wild Man of the Mountain and A Hand to Hold, and his memoir in verse The Griefs That Fate Assigns, were published by Broadstone Books.
Publication Date: January 15, 2025
Paperback, 72 pages
ISBN: 978-1-956782-85-1
The overused adage to “write what you know” has never been better applied than in this collection from nonagenarian poet Tony Howarth, for there seemingly is little he does not know after a lifetime of experience as journalist, traveler, dramatist, educator, and acutely attuned observer of the world around him. His subjects range all over the literal map, his concerns spanning the global and the quotidian. He writes of the vicissitudes of aging, but takes inspiration from an even older neighbor who advised him “if I stop I’ll be lost / I’ll curl up and die / but that isn’t how he did it / first he died / and then he stopped.” Howarth isn’t stopping – “my mind wanders spins a daydream / looking at eternity.” His title describes the moment of solstice at Chaco Canyon, the shaft of light through a peephole celebrating the ceaseless return of the sun. Likewise for this poet – even as he surveys his often turbulent life “where today is both yesterday and tomorrow” he finds “peace with the endlessness of time,” and his vista is before him, and us: “I want to create a glory that’s glowing in the now.”
Praise for Tony Howarth & After the Storm, a Shaft of Sunlight
Tony Howarth has done it again. After the Storm, a Shaft of Sunlight is a lovely and loving journey through the author’s life—family, friends, his teaching experience, his travels from Vilnius to Alaska, Zion National Park to Virginia, ultimately to his own back yard; his intimate connection to the natural world reflected in the sounds and rhythms of every poem. As Tony reflects in his poem, “Tomorrow Today will be Yesterday,” he is at peace with the endlessness of time.
—Beth SKMorris, author of IN THE AFTERMATH: 9/11 Through a Volunteer’s Eyes
In After the Storm, a Shaft of Sunlight, Tony Howarth follows in the tradition of Whitman, Yeats, and Merwin and grapples with both the trials of aging and the wisdom it provides. This speaker has led an extraordinary life for over nine decades—leaving London as a child during the Blitz, teaching tenth grade high school students in a NYC school, triumphing over serious injuries and health problems to reflect upon a life well lived. Howarth’s love of language and his deep empathy for the strangers he encounters permeates the collection. Those of us who will never reach the privilege of his years can, through his work, remind ourselves of the enlightenment it provides—most crucially what’s important in life—our human and natural connections and the love we cultivate during the brief time we are here. As he writes towards the end of the collection, “we sit watch the birds careen / listen to them sing / at home in the still-standing trees.” This is a collection for our present moment where hope and joy are thwarting hatred and fear.
—Jennifer Franklin, author of If Some God Shakes Your House
About the Author
Tony Howarth, a playwright, director, and former journalist, retired in 1991 after twenty-eight years as a teacher of English and theatre at Woodlands High School in Westchester County, New York. He began writing poetry in 2009 after a visit to William Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage, in England’s Lake District, developing his craft at the Hudson Valley Writing Center under the treasured guidance of Jennifer Franklin and Fred Marchant. His poems have appeared in many magazines, among them Chronogram, The Naugatuck River Review, Obsessed with Pipework (England), The Connecticut River Review, Raven’s Perch, The Sow’s Ear, and the Grayson Press anthology Forgotten Women. His verse dramas Wild Man of the Mountain and A Hand to Hold, and his memoir in verse The Griefs That Fate Assigns, were published by Broadstone Books.