Review In the poems in Beautiful, Eve Forti frames from the materials of the universe-the stars and snows and flowers that surround us-poems that face the short-lived reign of beauty. These are poems wise to the ephemeral nature of things, yet alive with wonder. Though often contending with loss, they are aware that in the cellar of the heart is a place that longs to sing. -Ben Dombroski Eve Forti's new collection, Beautiful, is grounded in the natural world, the human experience, and soaring cosmic imagery of magnificent proportions. "Can't Wait for Perigee" is unforgettably Forti's voice. "We have saints and poets here/ Green flashes on the rim of the Sun," she writes in "On the Rim of the Sun," a masterful lyric swept along by half-rhymes. The voice of spirit soars from these pages, yet never loses touch with the essential quandaries of humanity. Some of my favorite lines come at the end of "Bird Watching: " "death nests in our unconscious/...we close our eyes/ hoping to become invisible/ in the long shadow of its wings." The irreducible "Falling Up" is a perfect poem that defies quotation and must be read in its entirety-that is to say, experienced. Transcendence beats its wings throughout Beautiful. "Connecting Dots" offers the experience of transcendence even as you read, its cosmic metaphor laced with compassion and tenderness: "How could we linger/ in that hollow/ between what we are/ and what we imagine/ ourselves to be." Beautiful winds down with several delightfully wry or tenderly personal poems, a light-hearted touch to remind us that despite the spiritual heights and emotional depths, joy is also part of our humanity. -Julia H. Ackerman About the Author Eve Forti, born in Boston, now lives on the coast of Maine with her husband, Tom. She taught elementary and high school and was a hospital chaplain, a campus minister, and a member of Spiritual Directors International for twenty years. Forti was on the Maine team that competed at the National Slam Poetry Finals in Asheville, North Carolina in 1994. Her poems have appeared in Asheville Poetry Review, Atlanta Review, Off the Coast, and Common Ground Review among other publications. She received six International Awards from Atlanta Review between 2007 and 2015. Her poem "Beautiful" won first prize in the 2013 Common Ground Review poetry contest. Her poem "At The Metropolitan Museum Of Art" was selected to be in the 2016 anthology, Take Heart, More Poems From Maine. It first appeared in her chapbook, Holding My Breath, published by Finishing Line Press in 2012.