Half-Life of Passion

Poetry. "This is a masterful, stunning collection—sharp, lyrical, wise, tender—a testament to the transformative project of poetry."—Carol Potter

"In Missy-Marie Montgomery's poetry, her 'I' becomes a setting where human experience unfolds, the result an invitation to accompany the narrator as she discovers and explores eros within grief, the half-life of passion. We enter what is missing, what remains, and what rises out of loss and longing." —Jack Ridl

"Missy-Marie Montgomery's HALF- LIFE OF PASSION combines the power of physical love with the force of a questioning mind that keeps the communion of the body 'feeding itself, keeping the hunger going.' Grounded in the flesh, these poems are an uncompromising encounter with reality. Yet each is underpinned with tenderness and seeks a grace that at times approaches the sacramental. Never sentimental or dogmatic, poems in HALF-LIFE OF PASSION are songs of compassion for human longing, human dreams that go unfulfilled. Montgomery explores the risk inherent in daring to love and shows in seeking succor, the heart can harm itself, but finally her poems teach the heart how to find its center."—Vivian Shipley