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The June Cotner anthologies

Small books hold lots of love

By Karen Westeen

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, followed by graduations and weddings. This is definitely June Cotner season.

Cotner is one of the literary world’s most accomplished anthologists. Her gift is to find poems, essays and prayers from a multitude of sources and put them together into wonderful collections. Since beginning her work more than 15 years ago, she has published a total of 23 anthologies. Her most recent are “Miracles of Motherhood – Prayers and Poems for a New Mother” and “To Have and to Hold – Poems, Blessings and Wishes for Newlyweds.”

Cotner’s gifts are contained in small packages (5x8 inches or smaller) but they contain many gems of loveliness. “From this day forward,” the final entry in “To Have and to Hold…” (author unknown) says this to newlyweds: “From this day forward/ You shall not walk alone/ My heart will be your shelter/ And my arms will be your home.” (From “To Have and To Hold: Poems, Blessings, and Wishes for Newlyweds.”)

This is matched with the realism described by Zoraida Rivera Morales in the first stanza of “Prayer after a quarrel” – “Today, reality and expectation/ Didn’t match;/ We quarreled/ When we most wanted to be close.” (From “To Have and To Hold: Poems, Blessings, and Wishes for Newlyweds.”)

Young married couples will enjoy the varied viewpoints in this book, and so will folks who have spent many years together, as they look back on the beginning of their travels together.

“Miracles of Motherhood…” is also filled with beauty and grace. It covers everything from pregnancy to toddlerhood to adoption. All mothers, even those whose babies have been grown for years, will share in the sentiment expressed in the first two stanzas of “Baby steps” by Susan Koefod: “Today we both take baby steps/ Holding my breath, I watch as/ You walk away from me/ While you learn to walk/ I am learning to withstand/ All my fears about what’s ahead for you/ Along life’s way…” (From “Miracles of Motherhood: Prayers and Poems for a New Mother.”)

Cotner lives in Poulsbo. She began her career as an anthologist while she was working on her first book, “The Home Design Book.”

“One night my agent came to my house for dinner,” Cotner said. The agent noticed a binder that contained a collection of graces Cotner had been saving from various sources so that she could use fresh expressions of gratitude at meals with her young children. “My agent looked through the binder and said, ‘This is a book, June!’” She suggested that submissions from lesser-known writers would make the collections stronger, so Cotner solicited entries by placing ads in such publications as Writers Digest and Poets and Writers. Soon her mailbox was flooded with submissions and her career was born. She continues this process of asking for contributions today.

Readers who would like to see what Cotner has planned for publication in the near future can go to her website, www.junecotner.com. All of her books are available locally through Borders and Barnes and Noble, as well as online through Amazon.com. Both “Miracles of Motherhood…” and “To Have and To Hold…” are published by Center Street and retail for $16.99.

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