ÇI have been impressed by Miriam Stanley's poetry for more than a decade. Her work is characterized by an admirable unsparing honesty and an attention commanding directness that is both startling and powerful.
It is a pleasure to hear her read it, see it pass the crucial test of silent reading on the page. Her new book might be considered three works, Crises in the Career of a Health Care Worker, The Private Life of a Jewish Woman on the Lower East Side, and Persona Poems and Poems of Compassion. Each of her subjects is presented by excellent poems. In my opinion, the best poems in the collection are the persona poems. My favorites throughout the whole collection are "Hospital Smoking Ban", "Insurance Call", "Blue Magic", "Captured Fly" and "Aquifer".È
- Michael Graves
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ÇMiriam Stanley is an artist of conviction, true to her beliefs, and willing to fight for her own freedom and the freedom of others. Her poems are brave and passionate, and sometimes terrified. Because this is life as we know it today.È
- Puma Perl, poet/writer, "Birthdays Before and After"