A Lake of Light and Clouds

In her fourth book-length collection of poems, A Lake of Light and Clouds,& 34;Terri Kirby Erickson, to adapt a phrase from the epigraph by Sharon Randall, reflects the light she has been given. A skillful poet with a compassionate heart, she is not stingy with this light. She shines it on people she sees, people like Frank and Alice or& 34;The Man Who Cuts His Grass with Nail Scissors& 34;; gifts from the natural world, including birds and orchids; places as varied as a Waffle House and Vasteras, Sweden; material objects, including red tractors and ice cream trucks; and experiences with urologists, hospitals, and family members or friends. T.S. Eliot would call what she does mastering the objective correlative. I call it incarnating light. As Erickson shares images and experiences in her richly textured poems, she invites her readers into her own psyche, a place where we are all likely to feel accepted and warm.& 34; -Felicia Mitchell, author of The Cleft of the Rock