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Strong, courageous, exuberant, and honest, these poems are about flying and learning how to fly (she is a licensed pilot), about dreams and knowing how to dream, about having the courage and energy to plunge into life freely, to love passionately, and to learn. 

"Ackerman is an exquisitely beautiful poet who should go on writing forever and ever." — Publishers Weekly 

REVIEWS AND COMMENTS

"Lyrical description is Ackerman's strong suit. Rich, melodious, almost voluptuous with sound and image, her best poems are songs of celebration, counterparts to her "Whale Songs," that stir and liberate all our best and kindest emotions. In one lush section, the poet takes us "Cave Diving in the Tropics" where we discover the joys of underwater lovemaking; in another, she offers us "Flying Lessons" and the genuine uplift of dining by "all-star orchestra" on the "Space Shuttle." Back on earth, Ackerman's garden is no ordinary fenced-in backyard. There, in strawberry season, you can hear "A Red Carillon Whose Berries Are Bells." Delicate and loving portraits of friends are as tenderly observant of the quirks of personality as the nature poems are of the nonhuman world. Watercolor-dreamy, fantastic, full of the goodness of life and the willingness to share that goodness, Ackerman is an exquisitely beautiful poet who should go on writing forever and ever." — Publishers Weekly

"If you read one book of poetry this year, read Lady Faustus, by Diane Ackerman, who has been called the 'best lyrical poet now writing in the United States.' That kind of praise is understandable. In these poems, she gorgeously touches on some of the sources of her inspiration: learning to fly (Ackerman is a licensed pilot), scuba diving, dreaming. She is endlessly curious. Lady Faustus has rare qualities. It almost commands you to decide not just what you think about the poems, but what you think about yourself. Ackerman takes risks and challenges us to take risks with her." — Patricia Bosworth, Working Woman

"Lyrical elegance, authority of voice, unique vision, and vast poetical range can't encompass Ackerman's talent and the enormous scope of Lady Faustus, her third collection."—  Mid-American Review

"With an imagination not bound by earthly convention, her writing reflects a rapture for life. Through the dazzling, witty lyricism of her poetry, she gives us stay-at-homes a share of that experience." — The Virginian-Pilot and the Ledger-Star

"Her best poems keep bursting the prescribed limits of the pages on which they are printed in the same way that great paintings burst their frames. Ackerman has energy. She also has wit, courage and — this is rare — passion. The strength of her poems is that her response to her subjects is total.  All of her is in each poem, and this all reveals a woman of sensitivity, restraint, ingenuity, and passionate daring." — The Hudson Review

"The skill and assurance with which she carries off ambitious poems is the hallmark of this very fine collection. It has vitality and wit, and a wide range of vocabulary, verse forms and ideas." — Ambit

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