"After the tragic death of her daughter Hana and the onset of MS later, the author's art took on an ethereal quality, swirling with light and emotions. Her poems, too, are infused with the energy and movement that is lost to her. They dance and soar to great heights, plummet into the abyss of despair, then, like her indomitable spirit, rise again to meet the new day." -Joan Matchett, editor "Stania Slahor like the novelist Joseph Conrad, enjoys writing in her acquired tongue. Perhaps, their foreign beginnings give such people fresh look at English, which we who have spoken it from childhood can never attain." -Dr. Leon Karel, Charlotte Herald News Both haunting and beautiful, the poems in this collection reflect the life and family of eightyyear- old author Stania Slahor. Using her colorful family and her personal experiences, Slahor writes with a unique voice about a variety of topics-from tributes to her grandparents and parents to writings inspired from tropical experiences in Mexico's Yucatan. In the "The Mockingbird," readers can almost hear the mockingbird's cry through Slahor's descriptive language: ." its burlesque laugh / penetrates the majestic stillness / of the wood's green canopy / reaching to the sun . the vexing mockingbird / the incorrigible teaser / and tormented clown / the insatiable listener / struggles for his own genuine song / to overmaster his self-imposed mockery / a perfect melodic tune ." Slahor's writings prove that you don't need to be an angel to fly.