Fire Lyric and Other Poems

"Zarin's marvelous gift for linguistic play, her gentle humor and her sheer delight in imaginative stanza form and rhyme punctuate this collection and provide a relief that serves to sharpen the reflective edge of the serious poetry." Robert Hosmer, The Southern Review"Poetry isn't the same thing as music, or painting, yet a verbal counterpart of music ornaments Cynthia Zarin's poems, and her odd, vigilant descriptions reconstitute a world in subtle color and tight focus. Poetry isn't a duplicate of earlier achievement, either, yet readers of this book will find here some of Marianne Moore's, Elizabeth Bishop's, and Amy Clampitt's strengths reconceived for new purposes. These poems are ideal for reading to your friends - 'The Venetian Optician,' 'The Vestal Birches,' and 'White Violets in South Hadley,' for example, are sure to be applauded."Alfred Corn