Like Water in the Palm of My Hand
Subtitle
Poems
Poet Daniel Tobin says: "The poems of Lois Roma-Deeley’s latest book are like lucid dreams, at once as vivid, joyous, and as painful as life itself. And they are more. In their faithful adherence to the truth of the encountered world—whether home-life, street-life, cancer ward, or in witness to the sublime natural wonders of Sedona or Zion—Roma-Deeley’s poems seek to pitch imagination beyond itself to something more like divination. These are poems that show us “how hard it is to be a human being,” but which also “celebrate the moment of possibility.” Like love itself, to use the poet’s words, they “leave us with a deep, sweet scar.”
'Like Water in the Palm of My Hand' is a richly moving and vibrantly envisioned collection."
Bio
Lois Roma-Deeley earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism (1984) and Master of Fine Arts in creative writing (1988) at ASU.
Praise for this book
Against the backdrop of the Arizona desert, Lois Roma-Deeley’s powerful poems unfold, immersing the reader in a world of loneliness and love, affliction and redemption.
Angela Alaimo O’Donnell Author of "Andalusian Hours: Poems from the Porch of Flannery O’Connor"
Roma-Deeley’s poems give palpable form to intangible powers that may be even more potent for their being ephemeral. Here also are frozen moments “tumbling against each other.” Here, too, questions stretch across time. Lois Roma-Deeley aims high and succeeds: “I’m lifting you out of the here and now/and opening the door to the other side/of how good life is supposed to be.
Margaret Rozga Former Wisconsin Poet Laureate and author of "New and Selected Poems: Holding My Selves Together"
