Days of Blue and Flame

Book excerpt: Poetry. DAYS OF BLUE AND FLAME by 101-year-old Sarah Yerkes investigates subjects closest to the author's heart--childhood, family, travel, aging, art. After a career as a sculptor and a landscape architect, Yerkes began writing poetry at age 97. "I never fully understood how satisfying it could be to shape, build and form a piece with words rather than with wood, aluminum, stone and iron pipe," she said. A hard-working artist, Yerkes strives to write sometimes difficult poems with courage. Poet David Keplinger, winner of the 2019 UNT Rilke Award, said, "Yerkes sews a pre-nuclear America to the computer age, and she leaves space enough for our own pages, and our children's pages, all the stories yet to come."