Travel poems capture images of the world

MEYERS — Travel writers fancy themselves world travelers, able to share with those left behind something about far-flung places most people will never see.

Poets are the artists of the written word.

Suzanne Roberts through her book “Three Hours to Burn a Body: Poems on Travel” has brought the two worlds together.

Suzanne Roberts on June 17 reads from her latest book of poems. Photo/Kathryn Reed

She read seven of her works Friday night at a gathering at Bona Fide Books in Meyers.

Besides her captivating poetry that gives insight into places like India, Mongolia and the Galapagos Islands, her photographs on the walls make the words even more illuminating.

With good reason, in 2008 National Geographic Traveler named this Lake Tahoe Community College professor “the next great travel writer”.

Roberts’ delivery, mannerism and inflection bring poems off the page as though they are living organisms and not mere words on paper. Odds are she would do well to create a video reading or an audio version of her poems because reading them alone is not the same as hearing her read them.

— Kathryn Reed