In the Mercy of Snow

I rarely read poetry anymore, but I am bedazzled by Balise's mastery of the craft. Her collection is filled with precision-cut gems that are worthy of reading over and over. In "Moon Metal," her command of language is exquisite; her marriage of sense and soul, perfect. I don't even like jazz, but Liz's "Jazz Virgin" is a brilliant, sensuous, and evocative narrative put to music: ". . . Soaked with chords and wonder / I never hear him coming / Miles takes his time. . . ." What an ending - intoxicating synesthesia and ambiguity.



In her laconic "Milky Way Moment," it is her first line which pulls me in: "Seldom seen in the stew of Scranton skies." After that, she takes readers on to the stars, while I was expecting only smog. Another short verse, "Nap," is as innovative as wordsmithing gets - who would have predicted the use of mourning doves and blue jays to fly on the edge of this dreamy piece? In her eulogy to Henrietta Swan, Liz speaks to her subject, though not in a lugubrious voice - perhaps one that can only be described as transcendent, an adjective I believe applies to every work I have read by this fine poet.



-Jim Cunningham, author of Reel Stories. . . Short Stories, Flash Fiction. . . (Coyote Country Publications)



Liz Balise's poetry captures the richness of both the natural world and human life in language that is unaffecting, reflective, and unflinching. Too often emerging writers offer free verse that seems scattershot and dashed-off with no real consideration of line breaks and rhythm. Liz creates well-developed poems that are as skillfully woven as a fine tapestry of museum quality. Her breadth of subject matter and tone as well as her eye for details are impressive, and readers will come away from reading In the Mercy of Snow changed by the experience.



-Michael A. Griffith, author of New Paths to Eden (Kelsay Books) and Bloodline, Revised and Expanded Edition (Soma Publishers)