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"I knew the story already, but I rushed through part one, as if it were a who-dun-it, waiting as Albiso in her well-chosen words and poignantimages tracks the elusive tumor and its hopeful demise. I knew the outcome already, but, facing her death, Albiso gracefully turns not towhat will happen, but to every direction the soul travels as it lives and contemplates. In heightened language, she explores angels and birds,trees and light, Judaism and flight, letting each beloved experience count. The last poem reflects on lines from Neruda to lift us finally into''a radiance that can''t be subdued.''" ~ Alice Derry, author of Hunger"What is it we expect from death?" Sally Albiso asks in her poem "After the Neighbor''s Dog Dies." In her final book, Light Entering My Bones, shechronicles the process of dying, the pain of cancer treatment, and how to inhabit a body she knows will not survive...What time she has left, shemeasures by the rhythms of the natural world, as if this is the only way she can inhabit a body that has turned against her: ''I cough up feathers/and dream of singing/light entering my bones.''...The poems in the book never descend to self-pity, but rather find compassion for her husband,the one who will be left behind...At their core, these are love poems... Brave, articulate, with a sharp curiosity, these poems take us step by stepthrough a journey we know will be our own. At times painful to read, you will emerge from the spell of this book with a renewed appreciation andcompassion for your own brief life." ~ Karen Whalley, author of My Own Name Seems Strange to Me

Praise for Ravenous Bliss: New and Selected Love Poems“Beginning with ‘the whirr of the sewing machine’ and ending with ‘the shining thread to join all small and large lives,’ Ravenous Bliss is a meditation on love in its many incarnations. These poems are full of resonant, natural images and shine with James Bertolino’s big open heart.”            ~ Ellen Bass, author of Mules of Love and The Human Line“For more than four decades, James Bertolino has been writing love poems, poems of bliss so musical and urgent, so nuanced and bold, they’re ravenously ecstatic. These love poems ‘…draw nectar/ from the fractures….’  They join ‘…all small and large lives with what lifts/ us toward the sun….’ What a boon to have Bertolino’s love poems—both selected and new—in this one luminous collection.”            ~ Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate and author of Understoryand The Voluptuary

Anita K. Boyle is a poet daring to the rigors of describing the indescribable. Articulate, lush and with a precision of a raindrop falling from eaves of a barn that lists to its side, Boyle’s work attends to a still life portrait of perpetual astonishment.—Tiffany Midge Author of Guiding the Stars to Their Campfire, Driving the Salmon to Their Beds

During her time as a visiting artist/scholar at theAmerican Academy in Rome, she researched the workof post-war novelist Elsa Morante; some of the poemsin The Old Refusals had their genesis in Italy. Germain'swork is influenced by Italian/American culture, especiallythe Little Italy that was once alive in the South End ofAlbany, New York, as well as Upper Midwest farm cultureand the wilderness of northern British Columbia. Ajijic,Jalisco, Mexico has a presence in her work. In addition tolearning from poetry, she is also a visual artist.

"When a poem inspires you to wander down to your local inlet to view the spoonbills, herons and pied stilts, then it's not unreasonable to say the poet has made a connection! Glint is a dazzling three-part collection containing poems of place, nature and family. Lois Parker Edstrom ferments, shapes and bakes words, creating an optimal environment for every poem to develop and flourish. Only when it's reached perfection, she presents it to us, often with a subtle spiciness which teases the palate at the end of the tasting. Filled with humour, delicacy, soulfulness, and boldness, this collection is worthy of world-wide recognition." -Ruth Arnison, QSM, curator of Poems in the Waiting Room, New Zealand "The precise language of these poems is astounding as it works through both sensation in nature and the soul. This poet melds nature, family, and surprising imagery into a unique equation that is both harsh and subtle. I feel blindsided in a perfect way when reading this collection; this is work that sticks hard." -Amy MacLennan, author of The Body, A Tree

"In the first poem in Matthew Campbell Roberts's searching collection, a father advises his son streamside: 'Fish the close waters first, / then work your way out.' And this is exactly what the poet does here, gathering into his net the shorelines, rivers, and estuaries of his beloved Pacific Northwest, its gray, wet skies, its cutthroat trout and salmon, as well as family and the weight and cost of memory. Measuring beauty against poverty, solitude againstloneliness, Roberts writes with lyric intensity and precision about rural, working class lives."-Melissa Kwasny, author of Pictograph and The Nine Senses"Matthew Campbell Roberts gives us poems filled with the music of a bend in the river. His voice is tranquil, steady, and luminous. What a pleasure to be invited into the landscapes and inner life of this poet, 'Just to sit on a log and guess at the tide / or scavenge for sea glass and agates / at the edge of breakers. Or do nothing at all /and not worry about the news or work.' A River Once More is a radiant collection-a refuge on a beautiful shore."-Rena Priest, American Book Award winner for Patriarchy Blues

"These poems find the strange and beautiful in everyday moments: visiting adeli, flying on a plane, sitting on the back steps, noticing a stray cottonwoodtuft, recalling a walk with a child now grown. In this poet's gaze, each elementof the quotidian becomes particular, luminous, and finally, universal. Thiseffect comes from fresh and powerful imagery; from surprising diction,uniquely-apt words used in new ways, as in 'each of us / hung out to die, awish out of water.' The poems move with a freedom born of familiarity withmeter and rhyme, and the lines reverberate with subtle music."-Rebecca Foust, Marin County Poet Laureate andauthor of Paradise Drive, winner of the Press 53 Award for Poetry"The Marriage of Space and Time is more often than not local in its concerns,even intimate. Such is the nature of this particular marriage, in which we alllive. And die. This ongoing here and now. Also then. 'Our sorrows meet in oneshadow,' he writes; later on, he concludes, 'I'm old. I'm coming to life.' Myersaims to see as closely and accurately as he can, and in his seeing, he gives hisreaders a way to see as well, and thus to be genuinely alive, in our own timeand space, for as long as we have it."-Robert Wrigley, author of Box andThe Church of Omnivorous Light: Selected Poems

The mood and scope of the whole are sounded in Part I, The New Odysseus, a series of twenty linked poems, where a somewhat weary new Odysseus invokes his legendary adventures and various gods as he wanders both in the Tacoma present and yet in other lands and times, with an eye on our absurd world of the coffee house, sex change, the mall, pogo sticks, an anomalous game of cricket, poverty, yearning, old age, mortality, a quiet, bleak fading. It is a phantasmagorical trip, told with a kind of rueful even solemn whimsy which is his own. The following two sections reflect Magee's personal odyssey. They give us back the varied worlds he has inhabited, their landscapes and meanings, through the vision of artists and poets whose personae Magee explores and at times adopts. It is a strange world, steeped in art, populated by the active ghosts of Proust, Whitman, Roethke, Chagall, O'Keeffe, Yeats, Cather and others, as well as by spirits like Rapunzel. But then a homeless man speaks as he wakes in his cold blankets near Seattle docks. Or we pause in front of a Dali painting to consider time itself. It is quite a trip.The book is dedicated to Jean Musser, the poet's late wife and fellow poet. She also appears movingly in a few of the poems. Her presence is felt throughout. -Ben Drake

"Between Darkness & Trust moves into the dusky rooms of memory, the shaded places of present time, 'where something is always changing/ until changing finally into itself.' It takes a poet like Ferra, whose careful wordcraft and piercing vision are honed by long experience, to help us recognize that self, and what it can mean in our lives, so that we have 'Another/day, another/chance to change.' 'Trust' comes from an old Norse word meaning 'strength,' like the grandmother she writes of who bakes bread for her family so that they might eat when she lies down to die. Who would not trust such a one?"-Samuel Green, Inaugural Poet Laureate, Washington State"In Ferra's exquisite book, every plain-spoken meditation glows with a radiance that will take your breath away: poems that offer observations- each moment evoked with such precision, such humility, that to readseveral together is to feel like a gong that's been struck, so gently it makes no sound but offers a sense of unexpected connectedness, not only to the poet and the natural world (which she portrays with Zenlikeattention) but also to the human family. No matter what scars you may carry, or what stress you bring home from your days, this collection will be a shawl to warm you, an arm around your shoulders, an encouragement, a balm."-Ingrid Wendt, author of Evensong and Surgeonfish

"'Father Pablo, lord of the elemental,/your Odes my atlas,' Healy writes as invocation and homage to Neruda as she begins her book of praise. And what praise it is, inclusive and democratic, solemn and humorous, touching upon time, weather, mythology, fauna, peaches, garlic, and even butterscotch pudding, as she reminds us how 'the whole universe exists so it can be sung to. Even sorrow. Even guilt.' Insistently affirmative and endlessly inventive, Healy channels praise through sound and syntax, and through a precise and intensely curious gaze." -Michael Waters, author of Celestial Joyride and Gospel Night "Singing the world with the kind of unapologetic abandon and doting craft of Mostly Luck requires an audacity difficult to muster in our times. Healy's odes honor the subject of their affection with consummate precision. In their effervescence one hears echoes of Maxine Kumin's belief that all love poems are elegies at the core. Healy loves the world with the ardor and tenderness of one who also fears for it deeply. Let her show you how to love, how to renew your vows to this world." -Mihaela Moscaliuc, author of Immigrant Model and Father Dirt

Praise for Connie K Walle's What's Left "In potent poems almost as short as the poet, Connie K Walle covers death, love and the passing tides of time. What's Left also offers a candid look back at sex in the midcentury that's as volcanic as 'the shift of the/ tectonic plates.' This poet has a sparkly wit and penchant for O'Henry endings to keep her readers in suspense." -Allen Braden, author of A Wreath of Down and Drops of Blood "What's Left, is full of humor, pathos, compassion and wisdom. Be prepared for the small gasp of surprise you will utter at the end of poems that you first thought of as simple. She meets head-on the many lessons of love-love unrequited, love passionate, love worth the pain, love not worth the pain, love passing through, love lasting a ifetime. With equal courage and verve, she faces the specter of death, while greeting life with a high-five. This book is a good read for a cozy night when you want to wrap yourself in a warm blanket of humanity." -Glenna Cook, author of Thresholds

"Carol Levin's An Undercurrent of Jitters is a book of poems about weddings and marriages, whether longed for or forced or joyfully jumped into, whether failed or extremely happy. The poems are engaging, insightful, and well-wrought-a joy to read." -Priscilla Long, author of Crossing Over: Poems "The 'undercurrent of jitters' serving as Carol Levin's title belongs to strangers at a USO dance in Texas shortly before the young men leave for war. Two of these strangers become a couple and join the confluences of encounters, indelible moments, narratives, and palpable atmospheres characterizing the complex terrain of marriage. Peaks and troughs as well as nerves beneath the surface of the poems illuminate the how and why, and sometimes the confusion, of intention and commitment. Levin's attuned eye and ear navigate unfolding explorations leading back, forward, or within myriad instances relating to wedlock. These poems comprise a mosaic of inlaid particulars alive with authentic memorable human resonances." -Joan Fiset, author of Namesake

Relationships, nature, art, love, loss, and beauty---all come to the forefront in the exquisitely rendered poems of Sally Albiso's Moonless Grief. A poem from Moonless GriefCantorLong ago, wolves sang here with such triumph they were destroyed. Now coyotes penetrate the dark with their hunger, reach through glass, and this hour's supplication still greater, its tenor both animal and human. Is it the Sasquatch of local lore bellowing as if to make ears bleed? Roosting among cedars like a bird crying out for another of its kind, bipedal stance encouraging a tongue that ladles words? Or can it only hoot and scream, be taught to sign with furred hands that shatter a two-way mirror? The howling continues to gnaw at wind. I lean toward the voice, let it wash over me like a moonless grief, listen as if I might answer.

"The beauty of faith isn't so much about paradise as it isthe absence before, the gap we must leap in order to land.In her meditative and profound book slight faith, RisaDenenberg plants her feet before the divide, wrestles withthe angels of loss and doubt. 'There is nothing,' Denenbergwrites, 'on the other side for certainty to dine on.' Yet,there is so much in this book that nourishes.'These are days of awe,' she writes and while readingthese poems I too am opened up to a sense of fear andwonder. These poems speak to the sacred within andoutside of us. There is death and pain but inevitably thereis 'the slipperiness of hope.' There is an almost reluctantacceptance of pleasure. 'I've grown passably / fond ofrain,' she says and I can't help but smile as she tries forsomething 'more pastoral.'Despite the scope of Denenberg's poetry, which spansgenerations and religions and loves, her talent for restraintoffers the subtle power and influence of a musical score.It is a difficult and fine balance to strike. Although shemay write from and for the perspective of those who onlypraise or lament, she recognizes the very different silencesthat come after. We are given invaluable moments ofintrospection. Tightly crafted, wise with a quietly passionateheart, slight faith will make a reader leap and marvel."-Michael Schmeltzer, author of Blood Song

A few poems into James Rodgers' book and you realize just how much he loves music. He loves it the way we love long summer days. He loves it the way kids love splashing in water. He loves it the way we love our favourite book or our first kiss. He loves it the way we love road trips or sleeping under a blanket of stars. He loves it the way I do! Music has been the soundtrack to his life, like it has been to mine. There, every step of the way, sometimes in the background and sometimes defining the moment, defining a relationship, or marking a beginning or an end. With music as the centrepiece, James shares snippets of his life that go from touching or humorous, to sad or devastating. He writes about love, innocence, nostalgia, death, friendship and family, and does so in a way where you can relate. Whether he writes about growing up on vinyl, working at a record store, or watching a stripper dance to Paul Simon's Graceland, you feel you are right there with him. There is an honesty and humbleness to his writing which is engaging and endearing. You can add James Rodgers to the list of authors who write about music the way Nick Hornby or John Carney do. I loved this collection of poems and I know you will too. -Tom Landa, founding member of Juno Award winning band, The Paperboys In this exuberant collection of keenly observed poems, NW poet James Rodgers celebrates the contemporary music scene: the people, the places, the tunes that are the soundtrack of our lives. Above all, this book is a tribute to the experience of listening, watching, taking it all in-participating in the act, the fact, the sheer joy of making and hearing music. Rodgers shares his personal take on the music of Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Prince, David Bowie, Elvis, The Paperboys, Sarah Vaughan, and a friend named Mark. This poet/word musician, travels with us to New Zealand, Ireland, from the Jokhang to the Oktoberfest to Kathmandu, from The Rainbow Café and Zola's Café to concert halls and open mic venues where he observes audiences and individuals with delight. -Marjorie Rommel, Poet Laureate of Auburn, WA from 2015-2017

“Rena Priest addresses those who crave ‘the meat of beasts with beets and leeks.’ And while she insists that ‘Nature makes you pay,’ her poems tell us that through a ‘wistful song of sighs.’ The world is not always comfortable, but her poems never ‘lose touch with the fluidity of the spirit.’ Patriarchy Blues is an amazing collection.” —James Bertolino, author of Ravenous Bliss: New & Selected Love Poems

“Night Beyond Black pushes through the limits of the given—color, light, natural world, experience—to question what lies beyond with level-headed intelligence and, always, kindness. Edstrom's language is devoid of pretension yet elegant and precise, like the inside of a beehive. She shares with Stanley Kunitz a way of perception that is equal measures playfulness and gravitas, rooted on the soil around them, open-canopied.  Almost hidden by the beauty of these poems, there is a small history of the American West of small farmers and quiet small-town folk—their love of nature and their decency passed on to the poet, and from her to her descendants. Having been ‘recommended to poetry’ perhaps later than she would have liked, Edstrom delivers a full-length collection unrushed, mature, and as resplendent as the sea light she so loves.”   ~ Lorraine Healy, author of The Habit of Buenos Aires and Abraham’s Voices"Suffused with Nature’s palette, the aptly titled Night Beyond Black is a delicately nuanced poetic exploration of shifting darks and lights, sometimes as interpreted by visual artists (édouard Manet) , other writers (Richard Wilbur) and always originating from her inner impulses. From Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night where the light makes darkness ‘bearable’ to romance’s ‘eating the bread of love’ in ‘flickering sunlight,’ Edstrom showers light infused with her reflections of familial love as the ‘least expected’ granddaughter’s pressing against the window at dawn catching ‘the glitter of the world,’ leaves her equally spellbound. With this contemporary re-picturing of the Romantic sensibility, Edstrom’s Night Beyond Black enriches us all.” ~Whitney Scott, TallGrass Writers Guild President and member of the Society of Midland Authors“The poems of Night Beyond Black ‘dip below the surface of a life, go deep’ to explore a world where ‘silence sings’ and ‘a flock of birds turns / flashing a dark underside.’ Through wilderness, grief, and undulating fields of wheat, Edstrom leads, along paths of insight and wild violets. Hers are words we will savor, experience like the soft tap of the honey bee brushing our lips, knowing ‘something necessary (will) emerge.'"   ~Ronda Broatch, author of Lake of Fallen Constellations

“In Gone to Gold Mountain, poet Peter Ludwin brings to life the little-known story of Chea Po and his fellow Chinese gold miners, massacred in 1887 by Eastern Oregon pioneers.  Ludwin embodies Chea Po and his experiences of breathtaking racism, homesickness, and dislocation.  He imbues these persona poems, letters, and laments with the finely-drawn landscapes of Hells Canyon and China, glowing lanterns, and an eagle circling the canyon rim.  Chea Po seems to have haunted Ludwin until finally, here, his life and death are told justly.  We are the richer for it.”—Kathleen Flenniken “Peter Ludwin is a writer who knows there are poems no one asks for, but everyone needs—so he sets out to write them.  In this book, he travels to a place of massacre, then enhances the story of trauma with longing, devotion, hope, and the unfurling tendril of life that reaches generations beyond a tragedy.  The poems speak as letters, news items, memories, secret notes of lover to lost soul.  Ludwin’s lens of imagination pierces a hidden past at a remote place, and his lyric archive invents what might otherwise be forgotten, what he calls ‘the speckled rhythms’ of change.  Read this book for insight into a hidden chapter of international history, and to break a code of silence across cultures.  You will recognize more poems need rich research, and history needs to sing.”—Kim Stafford author of Early Morning: Remembering My Father, William Stafford, 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: A Memoir, and Muses Among Us: Eloquent Listening and Other Pleasures of the Writer's Craft “Ludwin’s haunting poems resurrect an era of vehement anti-Chinese sentiment and the U.S. by focusing on the Hells Canyon massacre in 1887—a segment of U.S. history conveniently omitted from the textbooks.  To a great extent, the work’s strength lies in its understated eloquence, riveting imagery, and frequent use of persona poems in different voices.  With great insight, skill and compassion, Ludwin has produced a fine collection that succeeds in fleshing out this nightmare episode from our past.”—Diana Anhalt, author of because there is no return.