Orion's Belt at the End of the Drive

Poetry March 2019 ISBN 978-1-936628-47-6 58 pages Softcover, 6" x 9"

"What words to describe the poems in Pat Owen's new collection, Orion's Belt at the End of the Drive? I find them meditative, prayerful, haiku-like in their brevity and subtle wisdom. They move fluidly from natural to urban, solitary to communal, river to ocean, young to old, dark to light, observation to appreciation. They're built of questioning, of living, and of a deep desire to understand the self, others, and to find peace in a chaotic world and within the context of mortality."—Maureen Morehead

haiku nature

From the Book

Against the Backdrop

On a hard bench in the Cineplex lobby
brightly lit, cavernous,
two women alone in the holiday crowd,
one weeping as though her world is lost,
the other holding, comforting her.
It was years ago, but still
I can't forget the sight.
Against a raucous backdrop of concession lines,
mothers with kids, teenagers laughing—
why did this scene catch my eye?
They could have been sisters, lovers,
friends. Whatever pain was endured,
it must have been eased
by this tenderness.
Now, every time I give comfort
or am comforted, that image
reappears. Is it worth the pain
to be held in this consolation?

What Others Say

What words to describe the poems in Pat Owen's new collection, Orion's Belt at the End of the Drive? I find them meditative, prayerful, haiku-like in their brevity and subtle wisdom. They move fluidly from natural to urban, solitary to communal, river to ocean, young to old, dark to light, observation to appreciation, they're built of questioning, of living, and of a deep desire to understand the self, others, and to find peace in a chaotic world and within the context of mortality.

— Maureen Morehead

Pat Owen's new collection of poems are gems collected from a life spent strolling through the early dark. Her poetry is the practice of interrogating reality in order to understand one's place in the world. It is the art of paying attention to the world, to others, and to self in order to understand how we relate one to the other. Good poems help the reader see the world with fresh eyes. These poems both light up the world around us and ask us, then, to pay close and careful attention.

— Jeremy Paden

Pat Owen is that rare poet who witnesses the divine in actually-lived lives—in wrinkles and cafés, otters and baseball, vulvas and ferns. Here is a music as attentive and tender as the practitioner's Zazen-breath, and like the Zazen master, here is a tenderness that is hard, sharp, quick. Set in the dangerous ecosystem of suburbia, that anesthetizing place, Orion's Belt at the End of the Drive offers the reader a striking wake-up alarm for the heart.

— Rebecca Gayle Howell

About the Author

Pat Williams Owen

Pat Owen went from the left brain world of legal publishing to the right brain of world of poetry. Her work has appeared in Gulf Stream Literary Magazine, Louisville Review and several anthologies. She was a finalist in the Atlantic Review International Poetry Competition. She was an award winner in the Chautauqua Writer's Center 2020 Literary Arts Contest. Sheila-Na-Gig online published her poem "Hawk" in its Summer 2021 Edition. Her debut poetry collection, Crossing the Sky Bridge was published by Larkspur Press in 2016. Her second collection, Orion's Belt at the End of the Drive was published by Accents Publishing in 2019.