Opening a copy of Body Work is like lifting the lid of a jewelry box to discover each gemstone carefully carved, polished, and sparkling. These poems resonate with intelligence, authenticity, delicious irony, concise and biting images, and deep empathy. The work in this insightful and unforgettable collection rank as Stephanie K. Cohen's finest. And there's not a faux jewel among them. - Pat Carr, author of The Death of a Confederate Colonel, and winner of the Iowa Fiction Award, Southwest Fiction Award, Library of Congress Marc IV Award, the Porter Fiction Prize, and others In Body Work, Stephanie Kaplan Cohen tells us, "It's okay to love life"... and "to sing off key," and "Forever is a lie." Enter her world. Visit with this wise woman and her words, an intoxicating distillation from an evolved, loving, intelligent, and earthy woman. Accept Cohen's invitation to explore the layers of her life: you will not be disappointed! Expect to laugh, learn, be moved and forever changed. - Linda Leedy Schneider, author of Some Days: Poetry of a Psychotherapist Stephanie Kaplan Cohen's poems are indelible because they are incredibly funny, genuine and are rooted in a complicated sympathy for herself and all those she thinks about and loves. She blurts out unspeakable truths that will make you laugh and cry in solidarity with her all too human and honest poems. - June S. Gould, Ph.D., Workshop leader for The International Women's Writing Guild, author of The Writer in All of Us and published poet