Joyce Wilson

The Need for a Bridge Joyce Wilson

The chapbook The Need for a Bridge consists of 20 poems inspired by driving over the Fore River bridge, getting stuck in traffic on the bridge, and researching the history of the many bridges that have covered the Fore River. Wilson explains, "I did not know, until I spent some time reading The Patriot Ledger on microfilm at the Thomas Crane Library in Quincy (Massachusetts) that people have been complaining about the bridge going up and impeding traffic since 1918! We all have our stories about our frustration with the old bridge, and this book has formalized some of mine. It has been a meaningful endeavor to research these poems, present them at readings, and meet those of you who also know the bridge and have been inconvenienced trying to cross it." Alice Kociemba, author of Bourne Bridge, writes "These poems, intricate portraits spanning time and distance, celebrate connections. Through the power of poetry, we come to care about the Fore River Bridge and its people and see how this bridge has the capacity to remember." George Kalogeris, author of Guide to Greece, describes the poems in Wilson's new collection as "quintessentially American in their concern for human connection and formal lyric expression." Her themes span the generations as well as the turbulent history of the region and the nation.