The Weight of a City

In a world full of dysfunctional families and chaotic childhoods, Rebecca Newbrey has brought us a clear understanding of how love and acceptance can emerge from such difficulties. In her lyrical, hard-hitting poems, she takes us into the landscape of transformation. In pieces like, "Ice Cream," she reminds us of how difficult it is to talk of these things: "I want something else,/ I want the plain truth, the taste /of honesty and/sincerity between us . . . /but ice cream is all we have." And in "When All Is Still" she shows us the importance of timing in a slow change of heart: "These clocks do not want me to arrive too soon, like tulips caught in an unexpected frost." Newbrey's poems surprise us with profound images and unexpected turns. To read them is to grow-Margo LaGatutta Author of Embracing the Fall, and Freefalling, Writing without Limits.