If Narcissus had gazed into the eye of a narcissus
He would have found beauty staring back at him,
Rather than the shallow reflection of his face in a pond,
A reflection, that had a wind arisen, would have blurred, then erased.
Rita Coleman senses “the wild rumble of sky/ and earth before it rattles the bones of the living.” She sees human beings as “tribes of stars . . . in the blue knowing.” She challenges the mythical Narcissus to find “mirrored passion . . . rather than the shallow reflection of his face in a pond.” Her spare and surprising lines bring sunshine into the depth of our existence.
–David Lee Garrison, Author of Playing Bach in the DC Metro