Indelible, Miraculous

Indelible, Miraculous, published on the tenth anniversary of Julia Darling's death, is a timely reminder of the achievement of this most life affirming of poets, a 'first aid kit for the mind' that deserves to find a place on everyone's bookshelf.

Julia Darling [was] observant, inventive, witty, wildly funny at times and wholly unsentimental. The sternest curmudgeon will be hooked by her blend of pragmatism, romance, anarchy and art: "Be late Be sordid. Eat six pies", she urges, since "Beneath your feet / worms aren't worrying."

She [had] the astonishing ability to dive into that other world of metaphor and vision and to surface with just the right image to express vividly the complex emotional sphere in which she works. Here are poems about chronic illness, friends, daughters, about the fragile beauty of what we have, about dying, but above all about living.