The cultural nuances of Poets celebrates peoples of different nationalities, it is a postcard of place and time and I imagine difficult to do in a second language English. However, Poet Eslahy has mastered the language and presented an elegant treatise on love and freedom, her first published book of poetry casts her as an emissary of light from the Middle East and specifically, Iran. This is a strong first work from Ms. Eslahy, Through Gateways and Wells Refuge and Refugee. TheBookReviwer

This is the second of three full length collection of poetry by Bruce Kauffman. It is an expansion of a previously published chap book, entitled seed (The Plowman Press, 2005). This book is divided into three sections: the "Prologue," "Seed," and the "Epilogue." The first and last section, somewhat themed, act as both an expansion of and cover for the middle section that was the chapbook itself, and laid out exactly as it was in 2005.

These quiet meditations offer lovely moments of clarity and expansion that "sew / history to future / with the fine needle of heart." In the poet's words, they are a "preface of hope." - Susan McMaster, Poet and Editor Bruce Kauffman writes of seeing "with a naked heart" - a phrase that encapsulates much of this striking new collection. These are tough little poems that grapple with life's paradoxes and with mortality itself; but they also undulate and whisper and resonate with a graceful silence. Kauffman's is ultimately a poetry of renewal and expansiveness. His poet's eye ranges from low to high, from insects to hawks - and beyond, to Poe's raven. And in all of this, the forest is never far away. These poems get under your skin and stay there. - Jeanette Lynes, Author of Archive of the Undressed "In The Silence Before the Whisper Comes, Bruce Kauffman transports readers to those hushed moments in which we experience a profound and often unsettling connection to the earth and our place in it. The blueness of the sky, a woman braiding her hair, the song of the wind - Kauffman takes everyday moments and infuses them with reflection, yearning and poignant beauty." - Clelia Scala, Editorial Director for The Open Book Foundation

Haunting sketches from the leanest light of memories, from spare & sharp boned emotions. Kauffman's ghostly lyrics are evocative traceries, fissures of words. Catherine Owen, author of nine collections of poetry including the AB Literary Prize winning collection Frenzy (Anvil Press 2009). There is a quiet grace and a persistent fierceness at work in Bruce Kauffman's first full length collection of poetry. Grounded in the contemplative tradition, each poem serves as a way-marker along a desire-line. Kauffman's voice is intimate and direct, perceptive and guiding-there is a real honesty here. Sandra Ridley, author of Fallout, winner of the 2010 Saskatchewan Book Award for Publishing, and Post-Apothecary (2011). Here is a poet who pays rapt attention to both the agony and ecstasy of being alive, who hears not only "crystalline echoes/of empty hearts/calling," but also gazes with wonder at the "multicoloured forest/of mirror/and glass." Bruce Kauffman doesn't establish his voice as a grand authority, but rather, as a seeker, a sojourner; his is a poetry of both wisdom, negative capability, yet also humility, a poetic world in which the flowers in the window box "understood the rain/far better than i." The cosmos is bigger, older, and wiser, and Kauffman gives himself over to its rhythms, both dark and light. Jeanette Lynes, author of The New Blue Distance, The Factory Voice and 5 collections of poetry. If you boiled the world in a pot, the steam would resemble Bruce Kauffman's poetry. Personal. Universal. Elegiac. Prayerful. The poems in this book are timeless mirrors reflecting a world that belongs to everyone, a world stripped down to its spiritual bones. Jason Heroux, author of the poetry collection Emergency Hallelujah (Mansfield Press) and the novella Good Evening, Central Laundromat (Quattro Books).