Already There

To find a hidden thing already there, one must first pay attention. A childhood spent in the grand but unforgiving landscapes of the desert southwest and a career as a national security analyst reinforced that insight for Shirley Blackwell. Already There is an eclectic harvest of poems found by combining rigorous intellectual investigation with a personal longing to understand both the workings of the cosmos and of the human heart. Whether the topic is caring for a mother-in-law with dementia, finding one's own path, or lessons in courage for a 4-year-old terrorized by a neighbor's vicious turkey, the poet speaks in a voice of unflinching candor. The natural world suffuses this book both as metaphor and for its own, but don't expect a sentimental treatment of the birds and beasties in these poems. They all occupy a niche in the food chain. What you can expect is poetry imbued with depth and whimsy, scientific fact and mythical fantasy, gentleness and raw honesty-all couched in precise, musical language. These perceptive poems celebrate the strength of the human spirit as well as its place in a wondrous universe.