The centerpiece of this chapbook is “A Personal History of the Early Fifties,” an extraordinary sestina that will leave you breathless. And on either side are expertly crafted free verse poems on the beauty and mystery of the natural world (“Facing the Ocean, Wellfleet, Massachusetts”), the joys and heartaches of domesticity, marriage and motherhood (“Eating Nasturtiums,” “The Compass of Love,” “Room for Song”), and passionate engagement with the wider world of social and historical issues (“Absolving the Myths”). Your only disappointment with this short collection (20 poems) will be running out of poems to enjoy. Never fear. Read them over and over again. As I did.
J.R. Solonche, author of Beautiful Day and Won’t Be Long (Deerbrook)