Susan Castillo Street

Cloak Susan Castillo Street

These lovely poems sit lightly one by one, but together they weave a strong and intimate bond. They are imbued with a sense of generations passed, of time on its way. Yet still, multiple ardent surprises alight. A joy and a gift to read.

Laura Wexler, Professor of American Studies, Yale University

Here is a poet with an enviable facility with language and a wicked sense of humour who can breathe life into ancestors or take us back with startling vividness to childhood scenes. The poems about finding love again later in life are something wholly exceptional: witty, tender, filled with joy and hope. Quite extraordinary and so beautiful.

Carole Bromley

In this collection Susan Castillo Street muses on a range of topics, giving fresh insight on subjects as diverse as our heroes' growing old, the difficulties of having too many books and Rossetti's views on women artists. She takes us to meet her great- grandparents in America's Deep South: "Her eyes are Texas flint. Her look would drill cold metal." In "Balkans" we are given the raw honesty of "bodies stacked like cords of firewood." Throughout Castillo Street engages us with thoughts on life and love. She observes and records the reality of living in difficult times in poems full of vitality and colour. Confidence and craft are the hallmarks of this fine collection. Wit and optimism shine through, encouraging us all to grasp life's joys. "I laugh and surf the swirl."

Finola Scott, Makar, Scottish Federation of Writers