To read Alice Fogel’s poems is to enter, or rather to be drawn, always toward an inner space.  Every image, every word unlocks a secret door into a farther room.  That, of course, takes art, and that is precisely what Fogel has plenty of. . . . Her poems shine with intelligence.  Brooding and meditative, Fogel is a poet alert to every nuance of the inner life, a true phenomenologist of the soul in that New England tradition to which both Emily Dickinson and Jane Kenyon belong.  She is one of the best poets we have.--Charles Simic Fogel’s perspective fascinates . . . has its own concrete effect on the heart.--Boston Globe Fogel demonstrates a fine sense of stanza--an understanding of poetic closure and dramatic timing far beyond that of most free-verse poets. . . . ‘Ravishing perception’ seems to pervade Fogel’s work, and to do so both elegantly and powerfully. . . . One can see the dance of intellect from word to word [as she] dramatize[s] the complexities of consciousness.--Alan Michael Parker, Chelsea Magazine The marvelous specificities of her poems demonstrate a fierce and admirable passion . . . with a steadfast gaze at the natural world as intense and perfectly rendered as that of Rilke.--Publishers Weekly Fogel is a talented writer . . . capable of interesting risks.--Laurel Blossom, Small Press Review I like the surprises in the language . . . to keep turning in the mind.  The whole book  (I Love This Dark World) is a joy.--Marion Stocking, Beloit Poetry Journal There's alchemy here.  You can't help but want to lose yourself in Fogel's landscapes, to follow the choreography of her poetry to that place that's so empty it's full.  This is lovely work, carefully honed and beautifully rendered and filled with the echoes of time.--Jane Eklund, Monadnock Ledger