If there's regret in these poems, it's tempered by a redemptive self-awareness rooted in Carol Lipszyc's finely honed craft. Her range is impressive: she's as comfortable in the rueful lyric, "House of Mirrors," as in the delicate Haiku-like poem, "Discovery." The mordant truth she reveals in the prose poem, "A Stay at the Hospital," will send the reader reeling. Kenneth Sherman, author of Wait Time: A Memoir of Cancer and a book of lyrical essays: What the Furies Bring The poems in Carol Lipszyc's new collection, In the Absence of Sons, are perceptive and emotionally attentive whether the subject is family history or a group of school children examining a beetle. Lipszyc is at home in a range of poetic forms, all characterized by her striking command of figurative language: a kitchen is "long-winded," yellow tulips "long-limbed," time can "hang heavy as a delinquent rope," grave-diggers are the "odd men out," a poet would "Align the bones of words hip-to-hip...." Remarkably fresh, In the Absence of Sons, is an inviting selection of poetry. Miriam N. Kotzin, Professor of English at Drexel University, has most recently published a book of poems: Debris Fields (David Robert Books, 2016) and a collection of short fiction, Country Music Carol Lipszyc counters the pedlars of happiness to write an elegant meditation permitting mourning. While her poems arise from regret, from lost possibilities, they are far from barren-but rich with metaphor, wit, a variety of hues. She writes poignantly of family, childhood, and nature. A darkly humoured poem inspired by an Internet date morphs into a recollection of a dental exam. As well, ekphrastic pieces and others lead her beyond the self into the social realm. Karen Shenfeld has published The Law of Return (1999), winner of the Canadian Jewish Book Award, The Fertile Crescent (2005), and My Father's Hands Spoke in Yiddish