Poetry. Art. FORGED LIGHT by Margaret Lloyd is a collection of poems which circle around life's ambiguities, mysteries, and losses on the one hand; and the struggle to keep desire and imagination alive on the other. There is a continual sense of living on many levels simultaneously, even of living in two worldsone which is quotidian and concrete; the other verging on the mythological and spiritual. While the majority of the poems are written organically, the collection also includes a number of formal poems. Ekphrastic and persona poems are interlaced throughout. The poet is also a watercolor painter, and a unique aspect of this collection is that each of the five sections of the book is introduced by a reprint of a painting, setting the tone for the poems to come.
"I've always been impressed by the consistent high quality of Margaret Lloyd's poems. The matter is always substantial, and always accompanied by her excellent craft. She has a distinctive voice, but in addition the voice is supple. The poems are nuanced beyond themselves. They create a lasting resonance. They produce an oddness that works as a shadow and multiplier of something elusive and foreign under the decorum."Jack Gilbert
