"Lisa McAllister delivers fiercely honest, mesmerizing poems depicting pivotal family moments. Her reconstruction of events - real and surreal - unveil a timeless limitless love for a son gone too soon. In the midst of loss, there is cleansing and a bittersweet joy in honoring a tenacious bond undefeated by separation." Barbara Moore, author Dancing on Broken Glass

"Lisa McAllister's Before & After is a searing book of struggles with oneself, the terrors of loss, and hope for a sustaining love to keep those she loves safe and fulfilled. It begins as "a story still being written," descends into the "curse we called down on ourselves," yet by turns is hopeful with "the saints, the gods, the sinners, and the poets" who watch and say "it is good." The reader moves through a mother's pregnancy with its uncertainties, the loss of childhood heroes, and the tender yet troubled journey of her son Allen, fears of late car payments and the realization that "you don't know the man next to you." The center of the story, of course, is the birth and raising of her gifted child, Allen, who died suddenly, leaving her with deep grief and a prayer that it will "turn its blind eyes to me with something like love, like grace." McAllister speaks for those who lose hope but persist in spite of the fates they've been given. Fiercely staring the sorrows, the deaths and hopelessness down, she is relentless, and true.Before & After is a fine first book, a spirited tale that matters for those in need." David Cope, author

"Lisa McAllister's Before and After is a fearless palpable portrayal of motherhood-unconditional love, frustration, fear, joy, and grief; its sensory attributes as inimitable as her son, Allen." Mel Wray, author Small Gestures