Bramble

These poems resonate with poetry's essential gift-the thrill of being. The poet's gratitude is exemplary yet at times understandably rueful: so much is given, so little to hold onto. Nonetheless, an appreciation founded in ardor wins the day. We, the readers, are all the better for meeting these wise, vibrant poems.-Baron Wormser, Maine Poet Laureate 2000-2006, Author of Songs from a Voice The tender clarity of Brooke James's snapshot-like poems is so precisely rendered, so crisp and exquisitely honest, it reminds us that any at moment, whether we are considering a child's hand print on a glass door or a collection of laundry on a clothes line, by paying attention to the simplest and most un-remarkable aspects of experience, we can be invited to participate in the quiet and thrilling mysteries and paradoxes that are threaded through our lives.-Michael Collier, Director Emeritus, Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences