Open Slowly

In her second book, Open Slowly, Kate Light carries on her standard of wise, witty poems on living, loving and making sense of the two. Light, a classically trained violinist, brings an understanding of rhythm and lyricism to her work that allows each poem to be formal yet accessible. Her pragmatic themes - relationships, love, attractions and the bodies that contain them - do open slowly, and her poems, says Molly Peacock, "seem more conjured than written."

Kate Light's poetry has appeared in The Paris Review, Hudson Review, Dark Horse, Washington Post Book World, Feminist Studies, The Formalist, Rattapallax and The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, among other publications. Her first book, The Laws of Falling Bodies, was co-winner of the 1997 Nicholas Roerich Prize from Story Line Press. She has recently completed Oceanophony, a children's book and CD for chamber ensemble and narrator, in collaboration with composer Bruce Adolphe. She is also a professional violinist in New York City. Author photo by Eric Kater.