The Key: Lady Grizzly & Sir Charles Otter

These poems are raw, brave, and sometimes hilarious. Ice Johnson searches the hidden rooms of family history with a determined eye. From nuns to nightmares to cheesecake, she traces with great compassion the debris of haunted relationships. - LENI ZUMAS This collection by Ice is a wonderful expression of her deep calm & resolve. Her realistic optimism. It’s unsettling & consoling, hard & soft, complicated & simple. She has not just survived but triumphed against all odds. ‘Alone in the dark, ’ she whispers, ‘is a dark place, ’ and ‘tomorrow, ’ she adds, ‘is so far away.’ ‘But you are the only one I will ever love, ’ she reveals, ‘and I still want to dance with you.’ Note the word ‘still’ and all it says & doesn’t say. ‘Cuddled in the pit of your arm / I’m hiding from the day.’ Hiding in plain sight, where she and her evocative, lovely poems belong. - ANGELO VERGA Ice is anything but cold. These confessions of unashamed love, expressed frankly and directly, are warm enough to heat a city. In this age of ironic commentary on dreadful topics, it is refreshing to read these ardently unironic expressions of the author’s humanity. - BARRY WALLENSTEIN