In these honest and sometimes unsettling poems, Nancy Austin takes us on a journey through the joy and pain of life. We become familiar with death but also the "bowls of July." As I read these poems I feel like I am being followed by spirits of another world as well as the real birds of Earth. The poet's intimacy with the natural world is evident in her realistic descriptions, inspiring us to take a closer look at the world around us. -Jan Chronister,...