Pattiann rogers writes with the kind of grace that words were invented for. Her poems are often funny, sometimes sad, and always thought-provoking. I highly recommend her book for both those who love poems and those who usually do not. Wonderful book...

As a general rule, I dislike reading poetry. However, someone recommended this book to me, and reading it has changed not only my view of poetry but how I think in the world. Crafted with care, the poems found in this volume offer an intimate view of nature, life, and a basics that could be termed humanity. Science and nature are blended with a profound yet simple eloquence in poetry that makes the English language dance.As a general rule, I dislike reading poetry. However, someone recommended this book to me, and reading it has changed not only my view of poetry but how I think in the world. Crafted with care, the poems found in this volume offer an intimate view of nature, life, and something basic that could be termed humanity. Science and nature are blended with a profound yet simple eloquence in poetry that makes the English language dance.

Rogers is clearly amongst the very finest contemporary American poets. A superb, beautifully written collection containing such poetic gems as "The Hummingbird: A Seduction". A treasured book in my poetry library by a gifted, important writer.

Morten Lauridsen, Composer

Book Magazine, July/August 2001: "Rogers offers a deeply satisfying, sometimes shocking reading experience, yielding a wonderful mixture that echoes Annie Dillard, Mary Oliver, D.H. Lawrence and Walt Whitman. Yet Rogers' is a distinctive, fresh voice. She deserves a wider readership, and we are in debt to her publisher for this fine book."

The Franconia, New Hampshire, farm of the American poet Robert Frost was turned into a museum and center for poetry and the arts in 1976. From that time, "The Frost Place" has been annual event wherein an emerging poet has been invited to spend the summer living in the house where Frost once lived and wrote some of his greatest poetry. The Breath Of Parted Lips: Voices From The Robert Frost Place, Volume One is a remarkable anthology of twenty-four poets, each of whom won that honor of a summer's residency and document the success of the original concept as a means of generating outstanding poetry while nurturing the poet's muse in the rooms and views that were once the inspiration of the great Robert Frost. Poem At 40: Windwashed--as if standing next to the highway,/a truck long as the century sweeping by,/all things at last bent in the same direction./An opening, as if all/the clothes my ancestors ever wore/dry on lines in my body:/wind-whipped, parallel with the ground,/some sleeves sharing a single clothespin/so that they seem to clasp hands,/seem to hold on.//And now that I can see/up the old women's dresses,/there's nothing but a filtered light./And now that their men's smoky breath/has traversed the earth,/it has nothing to do with them./And now that awkward, fat tears of rain/slap the window screen,/now that I'm naked too,/cupping my genitals, tracing with a pencil/the blue vein between my collar bone and breast,/I'll go to sleep when I'm told.

Rogers' poems are so breathless, so intense, they require the captivated attention of their reader--fortunately they are good enough to command it. This book of Rogers' reflections on the genesis of her poetry is a book for friends and fans only--it is not a neutral enough book on craft, the writers' life, work habits, etc. that a general reader would find useful--I think poets like Mary Oliver, Donald Hall, Lisel Mueller have written better general audience books. Even for a fan of Rogers, the prose reflections are a little sparse and not very deeply probing until nearly half way through the book when Rogers begins dealing with her scientific background and concerns. Had she begun earlier, or had the book been longer, it might have gone in another direction--what does become clear are the motivations, designs, and methodology of Rogers' brilliant writing--all worth the price of admission.

I loved the poems in this book!. They are pleasantly elusive, requiring thoughtful participation on the part of the reader, but they are not so abstract as to be incomprehensible. Rogers provides images and language, ideas and propositions, that are precise and innovative. This book is a gift that I will reread as a favorite.