Touching the Nooksack by Shifra Shaman Sky

The poems in this collection are both comforting and exacting – polished as pebbles of beach glass or bracing as a cup of tea brewed from Dragon Eyes and other Chinese herbs. Shaman Sky’s work is an exploration of mood tempered by the sheer joy of poetic form. She reminds us of what only poetry can do – its unique dance of word, idea, and sound. Whether accepting an “Invitation via Fortune Cookie” or preparing for “Lent in the Time of COVID” these poems operate through the technology of grace. It’s a beautiful book – playful in its style – but with so much heart and depth.
–Elaine Equi, author of The Intangibles (Coffee House Press)

From the very first poem, “Touching the Nooksack,” Shaman Sky informs us the territory she intends to share is inner space. My flesh my body, glimpsed within the mirror/I keep covered as a grieving Jew she says. It is not an easy exploration, fraught with loss, betrayal and pain. But she has artfully reverse-engineered her space, bringing it to order and healing in skillful use of classical forms and elegant syntax.

While there is peace in the collection as well, it is an earned peace, achieved in the repetition of spiritual discipline as in “A Dream Recurs” where a cat on a window purred/and screens parcel light like a sieve. Curl up in a comfortable seat with these exquisite poems, they will repay the attention of a close and careful reading.

–Ellen Wright, author of In Transit (Main Street Rag Publishing Company)