Reading Corene Johnston's poetry is a bit like visiting her wooden clapboard home nestled in a hollow of the Pennsylvania mountains. With open arms she welcomes you to come inside, pull up a chair at the sturdy yellow farm table for some freshly baked bread hot from the oven, and to savor moments together pondering the imponderable.

Corene's poetry is intimate and stark. Her poems take us from joy to melancholy and back again -- a tribute to the human experience in keenly observed detail and sometimes muddy facets. Corene's words reflect her sojourn of celebrating, sauntering and...