Ten Thousand Spiderwebs Bright with Dew

With this collection of poems, the gods have granted my wish: to experience the world through Lynne Santy Tanner's eyes. The meadow, the "tumble of mice," the aspen leaves shivering into "a thousand mirrors," and the ever-present mocking bird reveal the poet's keen vision and extraordinary precision of language. Every small thing is bigger, more vivid, and more heartfelt, and all of it will linger in your memory-just as her own memories have crystallized into these fine moments of observation and reflection. Time passes, half a century at a time and asks, "What is it that breaks my heart/and heals it?" My answer: Ten Thousand Spiderwebs Bright with Dew.

-Kathy Ackerman, A Quarrel of Atoms

Lynne Santy Tanner has a deep knowing - of birds, flowers, seasons - even of her neighbors' meadows in the North Carolina mountains near Chimney Rock. With an intimacy born of ease, she tells of the Hamlin Farm, "black cows meandering fields / laced with random fencing." There's "David's land," "Mark's house," "that new neighbor." And purple iris "large as salad plates." We could walk these poems and know the scents, the bird calls, the way of Tanner's heart. Wise poems, these are -- often quiet. But beware! They make a profound and glorious racket.

-Dannye Romine Powell, In the Sunroom with Raymond Carver

The title of this magical collection hints at the love affair Lynne Tanner has with the natural world. This, combined with her profound insight and her remarkable use of language, illuminates her poetry like morning sun shining through the spider webs of her title. While readers will encounter multiple images of birds, flowers, trees, streams, mountains, beaches, and meadows (all specifically named or described to perfection), they will almost instantly discover that the images are vehicles for expressing the deepest truths, the darkest griefs, the greatest joys of human experience.

-Nancy H. Womack, Red Jacket Requiem