Nothing Vanishes

In McCann's poems, grief for an ungraspable past ripens and ferments into an awareness of mutability and transcendence. A chair "so yellow it swears...stays" as an icon of a beloved sister-in-law, a transitional object to help others survive her loss. Meanwhile, fireflies "glint" and are gone, and laundry waving lightheartedly on the line takes different shapes with the fashion of the times. While the past may linger, the present goes on. Like New England apples crushed into cider and consumed, McCann's poems teach that, while everything changes, nothing changes. -Karen Henck Over the years I have known Kathleen McCann's work, it has always been precise, brilliantly envisioned, and layered. Her poems surprise with their depth and seemingly off-handed wisdom. And because of a background in counseling, theology, and the arts, she sees and understands widely. Zeroed in on a topic, nothing escapes her eye. Nothing Vanishes. Don't miss it. -John RonanKate McCann's lyrics flicker. With time, her poems have become increasingly spare. I, for one, possess many lines and images etched in my brain. Retrievable, for example, when I see a heron. This new volume is her most sagacious and distilled yet. -Barbara de la Cuesta