This impressionistic collection by Berry reveals a great talent in our midst, finally a young writer who can bring the narrative arc back into poetry. This is probably the best sympathetic story in verse I've seen since Joe Bolton's Breckinridge County Suite over 20 years ago.

The poet's speaker reveals gut wrenching atrocity and the emotional wreckage in concrete detail, then alternates to stream of consciousness deftly. Most important, without having a personal experience to refer to, it reads honestly which is the highest compliment i can think of for any poetry of witness. Honesty in details that are original and not canned details from self-help books or previous works.

Some of the highlights are not only the speaker's own impressions but the assignment of a personality to the community, who looks past the suffering child in their midst. Lines like this from 'The Sawgrass Women Make Me Nervous' - 'hard to unhinged/my mouth. Especially to a ghost . . 'speak to the barriers in communication after an atrocity where everyone looks past the crime and becomes a vacant look. The stream of consciousness passages of a poem like 'Unto Others. As They Do To You.' provides a heart wrenching look into the girl becoming a woman way too early and an honesty that hits deeper than canned legal definitions, self-help books, or scriptures. 'am I remembering the rule right -/golden-I wrap my legs around it until it starts to -milk and bend-/where are the parents . . .'

I have a feeling this author will make herself heard again in the future. Definitely worth the time, you will want to pick it up for a second and third read. ( )