No Batteries Required

In No Batteries Required, Ellen Dooling Reynard examines the world around her from the perspective of her inner world. She considers what she calls ''moments and non moments''-those brief stops along the way to look at something as simple as a flower or to witness something as complex as the death of a loved one. As a senior, she looks back on her life, its joys and sorrows, its loves and losses, while she navigates the unknown currents of old age and ponders about the journeys of life, death, and what lies beyond. Observing the natural world, she recognizes what is to be learned about the human condition from animals, insects, and plants. In the final title poem, Reynard muses about the craft of writing with a pencil, which she describes as a simple computational device with one end for ''enter,'' the other end for ''delete.''

Ellen Dooling Reynard spent her childhood on a cattle ranch in Jackson, Montana. Raised on myths and fairy tales, the sense of wonder has never left her. A one-time editor of Parabola Magazine, her poetry has been published by Lighten Up On Line, Current Magazine, Persimmon, Silver Blade, and The Muddy River Poetry Review. She is now retired and has relocated to Clarksville, Maryland, where she will continue to write fiction and poetry. She is currently working on a series of ekphrastic poems based on the work of her late husband, Paul Reynard (1927-2005).