Writing in The Hudson Review, David Mason has characterized Lorna Goodison's work as a ''revelation to me, much of it beautiful for its simple negotiation of the line between life and art.''One of the most distinguished contemporary poets of the Caribbean, Goodison draws on both African and European inheritances in her finely crafted poems, which often carry a sense of language's healing power in the face of the pain of the past. She deals thematically with the struggle of Caribbean women and writes in a fashion that has developed from conversational to more ritualistic.From reviews of Goodison's earlier works:''The evocative power of Lorna Goodison's poetry derives its urgency and appeal from the heart-and-mind concerns she has for language, history, racial identity, and gender.'' Andrew Salkey -- World Literature Today''A marvelous poet, one to savor and to chant aloud.'' -- Pat Monaghan, BooklistLorna Goodison, internationally recognized for her poetry and prose, won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, Americas Region, in 1986. She has been a visiting faculty member at the Universities of Toronto and Michigan and a central figure at the Caribbean Poetry Festival of the Poetry Society of America (New York, 1992), the International Poetry Festival, South Bank Centre (London, 1992), and the Interlit International Conference (Erlanger, Germany, 1993). Her poetry and prose have been features, with that of Alice Walker and Maya Angelou, in A Quarter of Poets and A Quartet of Stories. This is her sixth collection.
