From the spontaneity of notes on Valentine’s postcards, to the formal conventions of sonnet and somonka, Allegra Silberstein’s collection is the fruit of a life filled with many modes of loving.

Written on her porch by moonlight, in her garden among fig and olive trees, or before the mirrors of her dance studio, Silberstein’s experiences of nature, music and dance inform these intimate meditations with a generous spirit. The voice is never pretentious or self-indulgent, always as fresh, simple and astonishing as a flower— to quote the penultimate poem of the collection— "the earnest of everyday talk." Lyra’s Song, even when touched by loss and grief, is imbued with trust in the power of love.

Lyra’s Song is a book filled with love in its many guises: romantic, filial, parental, and love of this earth. It traces the arc of love through possibility (You are the keeper/of a country that does not / yet know it exists), longing, desire, delight, loss, grief (the shadow side of love), regret, humorous retrospect, healing, transformation, gratitude, and blossoming. Allegra Silberstein writes with beauty and lyricism, touching the presence of the primal and the mystical: He is the antlered deer, / the hunted and the hunter. / He has held the doe’s heart / in his hand. She writes mostly in free verse, but always musically, and sometimes in forms (you will find among Lyra’s treasures two sonnets, a sestina, a somonka, and a modified pantoum). Always, this poet brings us the gift of her hopeful being: There is a small space / in the turn of my mind / waiting for miracles. And she brings us those miracles: imprints of wings / curl into my lungs. / Fingers of song / massage the heart.