Poetry. "There is a quiet self-possession and maturity of vision in this volume that characterizes all of its poems; yet at the same time they range widely, addressing subjects as various as Neolithic customs, Whitman's career as a Civil War nurse, the physiology of cetaceans, and a Muslim's stealthy visit to an adult bookstore. The author is also capable of writing sly accounts of family history and a Cold War childhood that seem archetypal rather than generic, that show evidence of a strong social conscience that never devolves to cant. TRACTION is an altogether impressive book of great tonal and formal range"—David Wojahn.

Author City: WARWICK, NY USA

Mary Makofske grew up in Washington, DC, and received a B.A. from Douglass College and M.A. from the University of Minnesota. She is the author of TRACTION (Ashland Poetry Press, 2011), The Disappearance of Gargoyles (Thorntree Press, 1988) and Eating Nasturtiums (1998), winner of a Flume Press chapbook competition. Until her retirement in 2006, she taught expository writing, literature, and creative writing at SUNY Orange. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Mississippi Review, Poetry East, ZONE 3, American Poetry Review, Natural Bridge, Calyx, Louisville Review, and other journals and anthologies. She and her husband live in a solar house in New York State.