Black Ice

Black Ice by Kerry Shawn Keys takes a worthy place within the deep reservoir of his published books. The book’s title is a metaphor for a mirror in the title poem in a book probing the black holes of identity, the claustrophobia of self, and managing somehow to transcend both in a work both lucid and dense, cosmic and intimate, and any number of other opposing forces you can slip through the black holes of exquisitely-made poems. The poems in this stunning collection are varied and complicated, full of mystery and surprise, as an aging poet comes to terms with death and eternity with the skills and grace of a master. – Michael Jennings