In JEOPARDY Toni Ortner explores grief and loss, and the path to acceptance, “It’s riotous enough to love. / Be my sweet morning dove. / Let go of the black cloth of mourning. / I will weave you a nest of sweet grass and sun.” “In the midst of this litany of grief” Ortner guides the reader to a place where “pink blossoms of rhododendrons / unfurl.” Ortner’s poems are striking illuminations in a dark sky.
–Leah Maines