Sand Verbena Author:Suzanne Gross The intriguing title of this book of lyric poetry is taken from the name of a desert herb native to the southwestern United States. In the author's words, "The Sand Verbena is a desert herb whose trailing gray-leaves cling in the talus at the foot of Katzimo and grace the bitter chaparral between the Jemez Mountains and the Rio Grande. When ther... more »e is enough, it opens tiny, five petaled trumpets, pale lavendar, pale white. Summer after summer, sometimes it cannot bloom. Sometimes it is the only flower where you walk."
Forty-one peoms, some previously published, others seen in print here for the first time, comprise "Sand Verbena." They are divided into four sections: Earth, Roots, Rain, And the Flowering Branch.
In clarity of feeling, in the rich scope of experience implied, and inthe energy with which this experience is transformed into poetry, Sand Verbena constitutes a lyric adventure that challenges the reader on many levels. The reader's pleasure is further heightened by Miss Gross' sensitive control of language, sound, cadence, and image.« less