Hope as the World Is a Scorpion Fish

Liz Robbinss poems have what only the very best poems have: a sturdy toughness undergirding their tenderness. Though the body spins dervishly-almost blindly- for love and beauty it must also accept the jolts of pain of physical labor. As with the flowering pear trees in On the Verge of Spring we are ever hopeful/ hopeless--with [the] smell of sweat suggestive/ of work and of fear. Theres a refreshing honesty in these poems as well as a tremendous amount of skill with a sensuous musical language. Each poem is a delight something to savor. -Nance Van Winckel