Prismatica: Science Fiction Poetry Spanning the Spectrum (Large Print)

This collection highlights Elizabeth's work, holding it upto the light from multiple angles. It proves her a master of form, from the common ballad and well-known sonnet to the intricatevillanelle and deceptively simple prose poem. It demonstratesher mastery of imagery, like the chaplain in The Poltergeist ofPolaris, who says, My rosary of habitable planets / Clackedaround my spacesuit, / Spiral galaxy dangling from / The end.

You will find here all the classic tropes science fiction: If this goes on, in Countdown; if only we could, in A Spacer'sLullaby; and yes, we will, in Judas Rising. You will alsofind the universal themes of literature: the indomitable will, inResolutions; love of money is the root of all evil, in The Stringof Beads; and love, showing different aspects in Star Orphanand Not For Me.

Each poem in this collection can stand alone. But theyalso seem, at times, to be paired - sometimes next to each other, sometimes separated by distance but entangled like paired quarks, where reading one changes the meaning of another. Some of thepairs the I found include Space Evaders and The ClaspingOf Hands, Flying With Old Friends and Uprising, andWhat Radiant Light and Theoretical Properties. I have nodoubt that you will find different pairs, because the observationdepends as much upon the observer as upon the observed.

-Janet D. Miles, CPS/CAP