“Salter pairs her exceptional formal deftness with arch insouciance, bringing both rigor and wit to subtly provocative poems that revel in human ingenuity and parse fear, loss, and sorrow. . . . [A] wryly illuminating suite of sonnets about life on the screen . . . Salter, who can feel Audenesque, is a supremely incisive ekphrastic poet. . . . These are poems of piquant insight and artistry.” —Donna Seaman, Booklist
“Salter’s poems are impeccably crafted.” —Beverley Bie Brahic, The Times Literary Supplement
“Mary Jo Salter’s use of poetic forms and her characteristic surprising line breaks infuse her work with an element of play. For all that must be endured in an individual life and in the world, there is still beauty, goodness, and hope to be found.” —Lindsey Weishar, Ploughshares
“A thorough pleasure. . . . Timely and delightful. . . . Salter addresses the bewildering present moment while reminding of past (and future) pleasures. Salter conjures a rich cast of characters and literary allusions, her fine ear on display at every turn.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“It would be challenging to find a poetry collection encompassing a wider range of subjects than Salter’s latest. . . . Salter enfolds the varied objects of her attention within the lapidary midcentury formalism of polished rhymes and traditional prosody.” —Fred Muratori, Library Journal
“What I so admire about Salter’s work is that directness never comes at the expense of deep thought, nor does a baseline cheerfulness and willingness to be persuaded by life’s pleasure exist without acknowledgement of senselessness and strife . . . Salter captures how our experiences of beauty aren’t quite articulable and implicitly challenge our understanding of time’s passing.” —Maya C. Popa, Poetry Society of America (“The Poet’s Nightstand”)
