In this stunning collection, Janet Wildung plumbs the negative space within all of us, the intricate archaeology of grief. These taut, exquisitely fashioned poems examine the full range of human emotion, exploring, within the overall context of pain, moments of unexpected joy as well as devastation wrought by irreversible loss, in this case, that of the poet's beloved life partner. But while the book is built upon a foundation of sorrow and moves inexorably from light into darkness, it is ultimately life-affirming, demonstrating as it does the transcendence of love even when confronting the irrefutable finality of death.