Weights & Measures

Miriam N. Kotzin's ability to use an eclectic scope of formal approaches in her book Weights & Measures is remarkable; she writes everything from prose poems to a crown of sonnets, "Tea Ceremonies in Winter," which is as deep and clear as a tarn. Her subject matter is wide and varied, too, ranging from the grim to the empyrean. What I like best about her work is that it is not merely musical, but that it is beautifully clear in its meanings. It's hard to write real language music at the same time that one writes to be understood, but Miriam Kotzin can do it, and she does it well. Readers should love this collection.-Lewis Turco Miriam Kotzin's Weights & Measures is an impressive collection, with fastidious craftsmanship, accuracy of vision, and a depth of feeling that we seldom see so happily combined.-David Slavitt In Weights & Measures, poet Miriam Kotzin connects with the reader so immediately that her craftsmanship works unnoticed until the last word of each poem invites rereading, this time with growing awareness of how that word has been arrived at and prepared for.-Rhina P. Espaillat