"Sub Rosa? Of course, for these poems are rich in the secrets of emotional survival. The small balances and charms that children learn in their long solitude, like a light 'faint but unfailing,' have been lovingly transformed in these poems to the adult world. The resulting poems are beautiful and delicate, and have terrific resilience and strength." -- William Matthews "Susan Prospere's poems are full of what she calls 'the process of transforming one thing into another.' ... The changes are rapid and magical and the language they occur in is brilliant and assured." -- Eavan Boland "In Susan Prospere's marvelous debut volume, Sub Rosa, we are constantly touched by the grace and poignancy of intimate and powerful recollections. Here, we find an extraordinary voice that seems simultaneously both adult and child-the adult's sad wisdoms perpetually riddled by the child's awe at her world's mysteriously shifting allegiances. We know from the very first line of Sub Rosa that we are in the hands of a truly compelling new poet." -- David St. John
