The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Sands’ poetry to published posthumously
That expression and the memories it evokes for her husband is also the title of her second and final work, a collection of poems Sands wrote during some of the most difficult times in her life. Divorce, depression, abuse, raising children, falling in love
HARWINTON — Before her debilitating illness, poet Jean Sands and her husband, Jack Sheedy, were a writing team. They attended live theater shows and co-wrote reviews. Sheedy, an accomplished journalist, wrote features about anyone and everyone in the greater Torrington area and beyond for The Register Citizen and the Litchfield County Times. Sands also wrote slice of life profiles and was a prolific poet.
Often, while Sheedy worked on a piece, Sands was his critic. And when she wanted him to push himself a little harder, to come up with a better story, she used an expression that stayed with the couple until her death.
“We’d edit each other’s essays and articles, and when I was writing about an author or an artist, sometimes she’d write CBNT on top,” Sheedy said. “And she’d say, ‘It’s close, but not touching. It’s not quite there. Make it personal. ... make (the subject) come alove on the page for me.” “Make me cry,” she’d say.
That expression and the memories it evokes for her husband is also the title of her second and final work, a collection of poems Sands wrote during some of the most difficult times in her life. Divorce, depression, abuse, raising children, falling in love and other challenging and often harrowing experiences are all captured in the lines of poems within the slim volume of work. Her husband believes she was an artist whose talent was largely overlooked.
Sheedy recently published “Close But Not Touching” and will unveil it to an audience on Sunday at the Oliver Wolcott Library in Litchfield. The event, which runs from 1 to 3 p.m., is open to all and will include four women writers reading Sands’ work aloud. All four were close friends of Sands, and all four are known writers: Sandra Bishop Ebnerr, Davyne Verstandig, Cortney Davis and Nancy McMillan, who shared their work along with Sands for many years.
“Each of them will read from a section of the book,” Sheedy said. “It will be a way for everyone to hear the poems read by someone who knew her well.”
This second book of poetry is a labor of love for Sheedy, because it was a project his late wife was unable to complete on her own.
Sands began working on “Close But Not Touching” right after she published her first book of poetry, “Gandy Dancing,” in 2009. By 2012, the manuscript was 90 percent complete. That is when her failing health began to drain her creative energies and she put the project aside. Sands suffered from debiltating arthritis in her hands and legs, as well as pulmonary and esphogeal ailments that were ultimately the cause of her death. In spite of living in pain for the last few years of her life, Sands found great joy in her family, long rides in the car to special destinations, her pets, photography and of course, her poetry and her many friends.
“She talked about it all the time, but she stopped working on it about five years ago and when my book, ‘Sting of the Heat Bug,’ came out, all our energy went into that. And then she got sick,” Sheedy said. “She simply didn’t have the energy to do it.”
After Sands died on Oct. 8, 2016, Sheedy held a memorial gathering at the Litchfield Community Center, and many of the couple’s fellow writers were there.
“I had decided, even before her memorial in April, and days after she died, actually, to finish the book, but I didn’t have the energy to do it, either,” Sheedy recalled. “Cortney (Davis) was helping me, and she said, ‘Let’s just do the memorial first.”
The day after the memorial celebration, Sheedy sent Davis the book’s manuscript, after finding Sands’ last version, dated July 2012, on her computer.
“The memorial was April 23, and we started working on the book on April 24. And we were done within a month,” Sheedy said. “We had the art, we chose the epigraph, and we did tons of proofreading. You wouldn’t believe how many times we read it, over and over.”
His wife was not the best speller or “punctuator,” he said — that was his job, to double check her work. And having Davis by his side was a blessing. “Cortney knew her writing better than I did,” Sheedy said. “I’m so glad I had her to help me.”
When they were ready to have the book published, Sheedy contacted Connecticut Poet Laureate Rennie McQuilkin, founder of the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, who runs Antrim House Books. Sands’ first book, “Gandy Dancing,” was also published by Antrim House.
“When I first talked to Rennie about publishing the book, he said, ‘Oh, send a few poems over and I’ll take a look,’” Sheedy recalled. “Then Cortney called him, and when he found out she was doing the editing, he accepted ‘Close But Not Touching’ sight unseen.
“Her reputation made all the difference,” Sheedy said. “So two and a half months after we started, the book was done.”
Sheedy met Sands on a date 30 years ago, on Aug. 13, 1987, at a Friendly’s Restaurant. On that first date, Sands recited one of her poems to Sheedy. That date was the start of their many years together.
“She had already chosen the title, ‘Close but Not Touching,’ and it was a gift to me,” Sheedy said. “She wanted to dedicate the book to me; I dedicated it to her brother instead. Now it’s a gift from Jean to the world, and from me to Jean’s memory. It’s a real, live book now. She lives in that book.”
The book launch will be Sunday at the Oliver Wolcott Library, 160 South St., Litchfield, from 1 to 3 p.m. The library can be reached at 860-567-8030.