A Secret Room in Fall

the long version

"A Secret Room in Fall is a compelling, imaginative collection not to be missed. The poems move easily among their many contexts - history, literature, autobiography, travel, and subtly loving, persuasive portraits. The manuscript opens with an Egyptian queen asserting the tricky ubiquitousness of the dead, and goes on to surprise and delight with other unexpected speakers and odd conclusions. Its people - Blanche, fanciful namer of colors; a handicapped man on a train platform; obliviously happy lovers carting their mattress in the subway; "The Woman Ironing" - all acquire biographies through the situations assigned them and the details that give them a hold on the reader's attention and memory. As an immigrant with an insider's understanding of the diversity of America, I responded viscerally and joyously to "The Fruited Plain," without missing the poem's hints of hopes unfilled and dreams often deferred. Thsi is a rich, generous serving of the fruits of poetic observation, of attention to "voices from other rooms" that speak of realities beyond what can be perceived."--Publisher's website.