Nancy K. Crevier recently celebrated the release of her debut book of poetry with her first public program.

A Newtown resident and retired editor of The Newtown Bee, Crevier was the special guest at Newtown Senior Center on July 12. She was joined by friends and senior center members for the hour-long program, which featured readings from her recently published The Peach Quartet and Other Poems.

She has been writing for years, she shared in the Author’s Note of The Peach Quartet. Some of the poems are decades old, she wrote, “patiently waiting for me to gather them together with newer material and introduce them to the public.” While the book was published four-plus weeks earlier, the program at the senior center finally allowed Crevier to really share her writing with an audience.

Of the book’s 56 original works, Crevier read eight of them on July 12, offering a good sampling of her style and the book’s content.

The Peach Quartet, she explained that afternoon, is divided into four sections. The first is the book’s four-section title poem; the remaining three are Life and Love, Life and Loss, and Life and Words.

“Building Our Castle,” the first poem she read, is from Section II. It is, Crevier told her audience, “about love, when it’s new and you’re not sure where it’s going but it’s worth developing.”

The writer took the time to introduce each of her poems. Before reading “Vows,” she explained that poem was about the fact that “love doesn’t always stay permanent. It disappears sometimes and we don’t always know why.”

“The Old Men Walk” creates a vision of just that: two men walking around a lake.

“Not all poems are sad,” Crevier noted. She followed the poem about male friendship with “Holding Hands,” which she introduced by saying there is “something great about growing old together.”

When she released The Peach Quartet last month, Crevier said her poetry has been inspired by people, places, memories, and moments revealed in nature and human interactions.

Very few of Crevier’s poems, she further explained last week, are based on people, events and/or places. One of two such works included in The Peach Quartet, she said, is “What Is This.” Written for a friend of hers whose husband died at home “on an otherwise peaceful morning,” the poem was included in her reading.

It was clear that those in attendance that afternoon were moved by Crevier’s writing. Many smiled and nodded along as she read, relating to her words. There were a few soft chuckles at thoughts the writing pulled at.

The final poem shared was a work in progress. “Prayer Again,” Crevier said, is being crafted in response to recent shootings including Uvalde, a growing distrust in leaders, and even her own struggle with faith.

Crevier read the powerful work and received a loud round of applause at its conclusion.

She left time for Q&A and signed copies of books that had been purchased ahead of Tuesday afternoon’s program.

Admitting that she, like so many others, enjoys the work of Emily Dickinson, Crevier said she finds herself rereading the classic writer’s work and occasionally rethinking its meaning.

“My work is straightforward,” she said, drawing a laugh. “When I write, a rose is just a rose.”

Copies of The Peach Quartet and Other Poems can be purchased at Books on the Common in Ridgefield and Amazon.com, where it is also available as an e-book.

Crevier will be joining fellow Newtown residents Sydney Eddison (The Sacred Grounds of Home: Poems from a country life, and other titles) and Andrea Zimmermann (A Legacy of Lies: A Rock Ridge Mystery, and others) for A Trio of Local Authors Discussion, September 15, at C.H. Booth Library.

There will be time for Q&A following their discussion, and copies of their latest books will be available for purchase and signing.

Registration is already open for the event, which will run from 6 to 8 pm that Thursday evening. Call 203-426-4533 or visit chboothlibrary.org for additional details or to register.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.