Jane Ellen Glasser

In the Shadow of Paradise Jane Ellen Glasser

IN THE SHADOW OF PARADISE by Jane Ellen Glasser opens with an epigraph by Rumi, "The wound is the place where the light enters you," a theme resonant throughout her seventh collection. Subjects such as romantic love, aging, disappointment and death are examined through a lens of understanding that loss is both inevitable and necessary in growing a full life. In her poem "Cracks," she reminds us, "Every scar/ is the shorthand/ of an important story," each crack "...a door opening/ onto a larger room." A signature of her work, Glasser views nature as a mirror for human nature. Swallowtails hovering above phlox suggest that "...pleasure/ can only be tasted in small sips." Another source of inspiration is art. Works by Rousseau, Chagall, Picasso, Rubens are springboards for self-examination. With wisdom harvested by time, the overriding tone of her collection is one of praise, celebrating a life "happily flawed."