In Days to Come, by Lisa Timpf, is the type of book that makes one wish more people read and appreciated poetry. Timpf’s writing conjures a tone that slips right into the consciousness, leaving one with the impression that they are conversing with a childhood friend.

I have often suggested to my prose-writing students to study poetry, and Paola Caronni is definitely one that should be analyzed for the clear yet concise language she uses that invokes lyric yet concrete imagery. “I harvest red tomatoes, bite their sweet inviting meat / dripping joyous blood that tickles my naked arms.”

This is noteworthy considering the obstacles Sonia has endured throughout her life, and it reveals the bright spark the poet carries for a future that can be so much better than the past, no matter what trials happened in yester-years.

DON’T CRY, PHOENIX is a collection of 56 poems from poet Sonia F.L. Leung.

In each bend you discover surprises, tragedies, wisdoms and little bursts of learnings, such as the poems about the making of clay tsa-tsas.