I loved this book. Kay Ryan's poems are very short, but they pack so much ambiguous meaning in a few lines. They're quite unusual among contemporary poetry: epigrammatic, terse, very accessible, almost light verse, but with shadows flickering all around. I give this book to friends who say they "don't get modern poetry" and that modern poetry makes them feel stupid. If you like Stevie Smith or the short verses of Robert Frost, you'll love Elephant Rocks. Here's a short one, called "Silence":

Silence is not snow./ It cannot grow/ deeper. A thousand years/ of it are thinner/ than paper. so/ we must have it/ all wrong/ when we feel trapped/ like mastodons.

Once every couple of generations, an original thinker manages to refresh an art form that had seemed exhausted. Kay Ryan has done this with poetry. Her poems rhyme--but not in the ways and places you expect. They're metrical--but only according to the author's own quirky standard. They're short, tight, and disciplined--and yet they allow language to sprawl and luxuriate. Best of all, they're musical. Not a single one of them bounces along in a stanzaic quatrain the way a traditional lyric would; instead, these poems are densely packed, with beautiful interior rhymes and echoes chiming away in a miniature space.

One final paradox: Although these poems are not confessional (they do not contain personal remembrances, hurts, or hopes), they gradually reveal an intensely individual mind--a lucid, generous, and humorous one.

In my opinion Kay is the best, most beautiful poet working in the English language today. She has quietly reinvented rhyming poetry according to her own peculiar--but very logical--rules. I consider her best poems to be miraculous.

In admiration,

Henry Rathvon

Transparent, yet fathomless as a crystal ball, these poems continue to speak after countless readings, not yet yielding up their secrets. Incredibly rich, they go down oh-so-easy, a verbal tiramisu. Small, yet amazingly dense, like gold nuggets. Impeccable logic, impeccable use of language. Gorgeous, and mysterious. Moving and inspiring. Kay Ryan delivers on William Carlos Williams' famous lines: It is difficult/to get the news from poems/yet men die every day/for lack/of what is found there.

These poems insist on their verticality as they run down the page. Their weight and glow however resides in little unexpected turns in meaning that place us squarrely in the thouroughly ambiguous world we live in. We are told that wasted time and other common negative experiences need to be accepted as maybe something like a musical pause, as crucial as the rest of the notes to the sound of the music. Reading these poems I can feel a connection with the anecdotes of Porchia or Francis Ponge's underrated work. Ryan's voice is totaly unique but I can't help recalling also Elisabeth Bishop and that marvelous poem about the little marvel stove, so full of forgiveness and yet cooly tight as a work of art.

This title is an essential source for practitioners treating HIV/AIDS - especially in a community-based setting. It is extremely readable and provides information covering pattern identification, herbal and acupuncture treatment plans and practical advice on creating a non-profit community clinic serving this population. It is a book I refer to again and again.

The Sorcerers Crusade is a fine book, which contains everything you need to get a Renaissance game going. The Traditions and the Order of Reason are both given equal treatment. It is interesting to see the Order of Reason before they got reorganized into the Technocratic Union. This was a time when their paradigm was not as accepted as miracles and traditional D&D-style spell craft.

This book is more thorough than the second edition of Mage the Ascension. Not only does it provide a lot of examples and explanations for spells, and rituals, it also cleared up a lot of the limitations and potentials for the various spheres.

Even though there are already party lines, the rules make it possible to have both Traditional and Technocratic magi working together. It is a time of reorganization and both parties are trying to find their destinies. In fact, the reader will follow the experiences of a Celestial Chorus member and a member of the Hippocratic Circle throughout the book. The idea of same goals through different methods was stressed.

The time period seemed to be the ideal setting for Mage. Not only are their so many possibilities in terms of new ideas and beliefs, the age of exploration in the high seas, the skies, the unknown continents, as well as the Void are all available for curious magi and their associates.

This book is a must for anyone who is interested in Mage. It is a very complete work and has vital information for storytellers and players who want to use the Renaissance setting. Whether you have an interest in high artisans, explorers, knights, shamans, witches, alchemists, there is something here for you.

So as you might expect this book includes extensive research as far as magi and cabala's are concerned. The artwork is amazing, the setting is perfect and the ascension war has begun. I you want my opinion, buy it, it is surely useful in completing your storyteller skills and knowledges and will prove your wisdom to your players. Really, this book is worth it.

Mage: The Ascension is, without a doubt, my favorite RPG. It's concept about Awakened beings who *know* they can change reality because they are convinced in their paradigms is the best concept I've ever seen.

In the Mage timeline, though, there was a crucial event which splitted history in two: Renaissance. It was then that the whole world started believing in science and it's apparent limitless capacities. It was then when people started removing some attributes which made the world turn from God, and it was then when the church started the most brutal prosecution against "pagans": Inquisition.

This is a book about the clash between 3 forces: Faith, Science and Magick. And as the Mage storyline goes, it's the perfect moment to play a Mage.

"To Find Hope: Simple Wisdom for Those Who Grieve" is a series of short thoughts for individuals going through the grieving process. In a foreword, author Karlene Kay Ryan explains that her 19-year old son was killed in a car accident in 1986; she describes this book as "a simply written synopsis of wisdom born from experience."

I think that what she has written is applicable to various situations of grief. But several of the entries are specifically about dealing with the loss of a child, so if you get this book for someone dealing with another kind of grief, they might find these sections disorienting. Also, this book is very much geared towards a theistic audience (one's relationship with God is mentioned several times), so it is probably not appropriate for readers with a more secular orientation.

Overall, I found this to be a compassionate and gentle book with some good practical advice. She includes some practical exercises for the grieving parent. However, I should note that two of her exercises are not environmentally friendly (one suggests releasing helium balloons, and another suggests scattering ripped paper in the wind). Much of the book has a "New Age-y" feel, such as when she says "You will be one with God and your child."

Overall, I respect Karlene Kay Ryan for taking her personal grief and using her experience as a way to help others. Whatever its flaws or limitations, "To Find Hope" is an admirable book which, I believe, has the potential to bring peace to many.