Green Parrots in My Garden emerged from the years Jane Ross lived in the Arab and extended Middle East. As she discovered the wealth of life, custom and landscape, she decided to write about them. Her essaie (French: essayer - to try) sharpened as she journeyed into Arab lands and the beliefs of the people who live there. Accordingly, the poems capture what that world held and holds for her: the constellation of culture, people and places. The experiences of life in the Gulf region stretched and enlarged her sense of what is possible and/or real; warmed her with friendship and nourished her with food. The poems express how that life uplifted her with kindness, grace and perfume — and at times troubled her with threats of war and most recently of disease. The blessings and observations of that life give rise to the poems in this volume.

Jane Ross describes herself as rural and cosmopolitan -- in that order. Green Parrots in my Garden draws from her life in the Arab and extended Middle East, offering personal insights into people and landscapes, birds and animals, deserts and cities, carpets and perfumes, sand storms and star-filled desert nights. Having lived on more than one occasion amidst threats of war, she understands the darker realities that bear on the region. But that is not the focus of her reflections. Rather, it is the warmth of human relationships, the wisdom of ancient desert values, and the beauties of artifact and design that bring her into the hearts of the people and the essence of the region. Jane Swanson Ross (PhD, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology; St. Edmund's College; University of Cambridge; MA, State University of New York; undergraduate degrees from University of Alberta) has published widely in the academic and popular press. She and her husband Jack, live at Story's Way in the beautiful Battle River region of Alberta, Canada.

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