The Economist's Daughter (Poetry Series)

From the first page to the last, one is reminded of the contract life makes between the material body of the world and the soul. There are challenges. In "Lo and Behold," the poet admits, "There is not enough bandwidth in the world/to record such busy loveliness/....It hurts the heart, really, this explosion of song,/ this flip book of life." And yet, despite yearning and loss, these poems find a way to be in the world that is radiant and real. As the poems accumulate, one feels the consoling presence of the poet. One comes to understand how human beauty springs from compassion and intelligence. This is a lovely collection. (Jerry Mirskin) Elizabeth Cohen's poetry collection, "The Economist's Daughter," is a poignant meditation on the death of her father. It is a must-read for those who grieve, for all those who, like Cohen, inhabit the "country of last ideas," that harsh borderland where we struggle to reconcile our need to continue living with the "gobsmacking absence" of those we have lost. Cohen's poems are marvelous, gripping, continually surprising, yet always at home in a radiant dailiness. (Joe Ahearn)