This slim new chapbook from award-winning poet Miller Adams takes the reader through the trials and the anguish of parenthood, nevertheless liberally spiced with hopes, joys, and intimacy. The poet uses a range of forms to explore intense feelings varying from sadness and pride, wistfulness and nostalgia, to deep spirituality. This chapbook contains intelligent, wise reflection on life as well as on the enigma and the contradictions of raising a difficult child, which is every parent at one time or another. - Patricia Ann Kirby, author of *The Legendary Augustin Le Bourdais*The poems in *Instructions for Lies and Flowers* are intense and urgent missives from the heart. Through her meticulously honed phrases and achingly vivid images, Miller Adams provides loving but often anguished insights into a brilliant mind clouded by delusion, and a parent’s sense of powerlessness. Rich in detail, imbued with terrifying and blue consumptive angels, this is a deeply moving collection, compassionate and grounded. - Frances Boyle, author of *This White Nest and Tower*