CYNTHIA RANDOLPH

“Her visual artwork is precise, elegant, and controlled. Her poems similarly respect the power of clean geometry and economy of expression. In both realms, she mirrors the minimalism and repetitive patterning of composers like Phillip Glass and Terry Riley. Randolph has several ekphrastic poems in this collection, one of which contains the title of the painting that inspired it: “Homage to the Square: Guarded, 1952”, by Josef Albers. Albers attained maximum effect with minimal media. Randolph does the same. Her museography achieves its impact with an almost scientific sense of exactly which elements to reveal and which to hold back, such that the reader has the sensation of encountering a purified essence with each poem.”