“ltpgtsweetness is the sound a pen makes or a spines crack when first opened as a birth canal binds daughter mother into a book of doubled pages from the title poemin a tension of leaves and bindingltbrgtltpgtltpgtA poet sits vigil bears witness and we participate in a cycle of life and death palpable visible quotidian Led by her questions What is a loss and What is a visitation we are visitors in the poets garden where animals plants soil rain replicate expand die revisit Where the wondrous world continues its exertions regardless of human naming presence Where we mourn the pain of human loss Where we celebrate the human birth our own birth like birds irrupting into existence bursting in to the room where our lives began from irruptions And we participate in this earnest play to the point of holding book up to mirror until we realize all the poems are mirrors we are mirrors words cast actual shadows our little lives hold meaning Thank you Rene M Sgroi for the holy energy with which your fingers caressed this tangled earth of relationships and leaves With reverence And loveltpgt”
– Darlene Madott author of Dying Times

“ltpgtIn this brilliant cornucopia of varied poetic styles and diverse perspectives a passionate and benevolent imagination interleaves excitingly with a scientificallyinformed intellect The grounding presence both metaphoric and visceral of the vegetable garden exerts a binding force one of whose most engaging features is a giving voice to denizens such as onion carrot grasshopper ant and even its clay The binding is also that of the leafy pages that persistently fold in the tensions of a loving but challenging motherdaughter bond Altogether a big bristling assemblage that is bound to enlighten and move its readers multiply in highly unusual waysltpgt”
– Allan Briesmaster author of The Long Bond and Windfor

“ltpgtThis book is a wonder playing with form and language and stretching the boundaries of what the very best poetry can achieve These naturerooted poems take the ordinary and through the poets alchemy transform the everyday into something magical This book dazzles enough to silver to shine gold and chiaroscuro with light At once erudite and inviting here is a beautifully written collection of fresh and interesting poems that is as earthy rich and lush as the gardens Sgroi celebratesltpgt”
– Marsha Barber author of Kaddish for My Mother

“ltpgtRight from the first poem we are taken sometimes like a whirlwind other times held tenderly in a palm of Mother Natures hand into a world of leaf and bole the umwelten of garden forest and backyard Sgrois poems explore the mystery of living organisms we tend to take for granted This collection makes us consider the world around us and the languages spoken we do not listen to Rene M Sgroi is listeningltpgt”
– Lynn Tait author of Your Break It You Buy It