C.M. Clark plays with a rich cast of characters and a sly wit in these mature, philosophical and intellectually commanding poems. Peopled by "Dead Helen," "Lissette" and "Jane," they are wonderfully strange and strangely wonderful narratives of women who are forced to make real- life choices in an often unrealistically demanding world. Indeed, Clark's verse serves as a reminder that our actions are often not fully realized but cannot, by virtue of being human, being alive and being an individual with even the tiniest sense of self, be avoided. - Jen Karetnick, author of Brie Season (White Violet Press) C.M. Clark spins sentences that, like the ight of a dragon y, take me to dizzying heights and spiral me into heart-stopping lows. ere is love here, but also its other face - deep loss - and a kind of haunting. Clark has a way of translating the natural world and the lives of her women in ways that resonate, but feel brand new all the same. And as I read these poems, I can't help but feel alive in all its complexity of joy, pain, ennui, hunger, ambivalence, want... Prepare yourself for a voice that will grab you, and like rst lust, will refuse to ever leave - and you'll be glad for it. - Lissette Mendez, Programs Director, Miami Book Fair International, e Center for Writing and Literature at Miami Dade College. With sumptuous images and dynamic language, C.M. Clark's Dragon y cleaves the imagination. ese poems are expertly honed and lushly rendered. - Gianna Russo, author of Moon ower