Then and Now

With masterly precision of language and form, Doris Brody's Then and Now: When Africa Changed My Life is a moving portrait of the poet's journey from grief to renewal. Brody's close observation of nature-especially birds-informs and enriches these poems. She moves from "White Owls" with its "cold white year of the helicopter . . .the screaming inside and out" to "Africa" where "(t)he future beckons, / unexpectedly ablaze." Then and Now is a magnificent collection, filled with beauty and hope.

-Miles David Moore, author of Man on Terrace with Wine

Would that we could view the world and its wonders with the wise eyes of this accomplished poet and birder whose poems reflect what life can offer. In her poem "Advice for Myself," she says, "Listen. I wish the apples of paradise had no worms." Brody displays her poetic skills primarily in free verse, but there's a humorous, triple-sonnet about the challenges of modern plane travel. Occasionally her late husband visits her-a ghost she's glad to keep alive-but she's found new love, traveled distant corners of the globe, and described more exotic birds and animals than most of us can hope to see. She sees tiny sea life in "The Marsh at Barnegat Bay" as "a shiver of minnows tickle the surface." These poems, blessed with such effective images, are accessible and rewarding.

-Gary Stein, author of Touring the Shadow Factory and Getting to Heaven

With a wide embrace of love, life, and the vibrating lands of this planet, Doris Brody confronts head on the dangers and demands of metaphoric and real tigers. Then and Now: When Africa Changed My Life is a substantial book of poetry always on alert to solve the puzzle for how to live.

-Karren L. Alenier, author of From the Belly: Poets Respond to Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons