The Long Hot Summer 2022

About the Book

A series of extreme weather events – a freak snow/ice storm, a spring when trees were so stressed they struggled to make leaves, and a global record-breaking heat wave – is the topic of this book of haiku and photographs by poet and neuroscientist Judith Lauter. Set against a backdrop of political upheavals and the international covid pandemic, such meteorological events may seem too overwhelming for any kind of poetry, much less the delicate miniatures of haiku – but the poet’s love of the natural world, her trust in its rhythms and rules, even in the face of radical departures from the norm, comes through in every poem and photograph. Her vision combines intimacy of observation with occasional flashes of humor, to reveal a spectrum of emotional colors and insight. The Endnotes provide a deeper appreciation of the facts behind the art, and the reader leaves the book with a sense of peace and transcendence, sharing the poet’s wish that, as expressed in the Preface – the ‘long hot summers’ and the ‘long cold winters’ will return to normal levels and allow the Earth to rebound – as we her children know She can.

About the Author

Judith Lauter (JudithLauter.com) was born in Austin, Texas.  When she was nine, her family moved to Michigan where she later met her husband, the poet Ken Lauter, in a poetry-writing seminar at the University of Michigan taught by Donald Hall (US Poet Laureate, 2006-7).  In addition to scientific articles, chapters, and books (including How is Your Brain Like a Zebra? Xlibris, 2008, ZebraBrain.net), she has published poems in journals, and won two Hopwood Awards for poetry (University of Michigan), an Academy of American Poets prize (University of Denver), and the Norma Lowry Memorial Prize (Washington University).  Her prize-winning photography has been compared to Eliot Porter’s; reproductions (including selections from this book) are available at FineArtAmerica.com.  She has published nine previous books of poetry-and-images with Xlibris, plus a book of photos and poems about Wallace Stevens, with the Stephen F. Austin State University Press.