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Though the clocks are ticking throughout this book,
Allegra Silberstein orchestrates them into “the cricket’s ballad/ the
lark’s canticle// a blue sky ringing/ above the garden wall.” Like her
poetic ancestor Ruth Stone, Silberstein confronts the hard realities and
the fleet- ing joys with a rare exuberance and vitality, striking a
balance between the contemplative and a voracious poet-speaker whose
‘companion is wolf’— a “wild child, beguiled child ...intent on the
music she hears…” Yes, there is an extraordinary savor to the poems in
West of Angels: Every second is sacred; every syllable counts. Susan Kelly-DeWitt Writer/Poet
Like some of the characters in this marvelous new
book, West of Angels, beloved and perceptive Davis Poet Laureate Emerita
Allegra Silberstein speaks “in hushed temple voices of ordinary things”
and makes the quotidian awaken and enliven, like one poem’s “gigantic
petrified eggs . . . hatching in golden shadows.” The Silberstein voice
is recep- tive to the offerings of nature, from the “lacework lichens on
an altar of fallen limbs,” to the “murmurations of light that move /
through maple leaves golden red in the winter sun.” Compelled to “speak
the tender of [her] thoughts,” Silberstein explores discoveries made
possible by an alert and sympathetic imagination, she recounts generous
insights about the human spirit, and she “mirrors with perfect clarity”
the specific and chromatic variety of the natural world. Silberstein’s
writing reminds us why, as one poem’s title tells us, “there are so many
reasons for singing,” and each of these patient and accessible songs
rewards the reader and speaker innumerably. With West of Angels,
Silberstein reminds us all why she is so widely welcomed and appreciated
by event hosts, editors, and anthologists alike.
Dr. Andy Jones Poet Laureate, Davis, CA
