North Carolina poet Lynne Santy Tanner invokes a lot of nature, a little humor, and a sweeping abundance of light to create a wonderful collection that leads from Interstate highways and cancer wards to countryside pastures and ponds. Inspiring and soothing, her words reflect light from every direction and daypart as they lead us into conversations, confrontations, and escape.

Where There Is No Night is a high-quality chapbook, with a full-color drawing on the front cover and a brown satin ribbon binding 26 pages, softbound. $14.

Here's an excerpt:

Counting the Days

Six-thirty. There is
light in the sky
by dark falls about
the house where
a radio hums and
children work arithmetic.

I have cut vegetables
for stir fry, and onion
fills the kitchen.
At the sink, already
counting the days until
it will bloom, I trim

the base of an amaryllis.
Its severed tendrils,
whie and worm-like,
send up earthy incense
and the roots shine.
I place small polished
stones in the clay pot,

center the bulb and
press down the new soil,
pulling it up around the neck
as I would lift a blanket
over the shoulders
of a sleeping child.

From Where There Is No Night (Finishing Line Press, 2004)
All rights reserved.