Flame, a collection of persona poems in the voice of Mary, mother of Jesus (in

the Christian tradition) and Isa (in the Islamic tradition), is equal parts body

and spirit, experience and myth. The poems are imaginative, as hope and faith are

imaginative: we need to be able to envision a better day even if we cannot see it

yet. What thrills me is the restraint, and how each poem quietly--but

fully--delivers. Flame is feminist, timely, and timeless.

--Maggie Smith, 2018 contest judge, author of Good Bones