Rising and Falling

Carolyn Miller's writing is both extraordinarily risky and extraordinarily lucid. Her lines dip like dancers and then make such sharp turns they can leave the reader gasping at their freshness and nerve. She is a totally original poet, unafraid of angels and very aware of the dark. You won't be able to put this book down. -- Christopher Howell Wild and raucous, graceful and tender, Carolyn Miller's poems reveal a carnival of delights full of music, animals, soldiers, spirits, specters, and dazzling stage effects. Miller rides these poems, as one poem asserts, as the bareback artist who invited the lion into her care. His paw brushes satin. -- Nance Van Winckel

Carolyn Miller's writing is both extraordinarily risky and extraordinarily lucid. Her lines dip like dancers and then make such sharp turns they can leave the reader gasping at their freshness and nerve. She is a totally original poet, unafraid of angels and very aware of the dark. You won't be able to put this book down." - Christopher Howell