A Review of "Resilience"

Emily Bilman's latest collection, "Resilience" carries an original voice instructed

by literature and life. Her lexicon brims with experience tempered by links

to the past and the uses of art. She is lavish with sound: "an intimate voice

held, hummed, hidden in the hawthorne bower." She compounds words

in myriad ways to make images: "orchid-wombs," "blood-dolphin sea,"

"grit-rocks." Her subjects breed new connections between worlds:

"asbestos germ-dust," "mercury drops," "spinal-kiln," "mosaic-waters."

Her clear eyed intelligence uses these compounds to create tiny islands

of traction in poems that range from personal loss, to love, to themes

of recovery. Her best are intriguing invitations to read them again

and to nod in agreement when bravery and beauty appear.