INTRODUCTION

I first published Monika Rose’s poetry in the Mindprint Review, a literary journal of regional and international writing and art published back in the late 1980s. And even then, I was taken with her whimsical wit and metaphysical humor in poems such as “Carp” and “Eye.”

Today, she has evolved these skills into the biting imagery but sensitive and haunting verse found in the likes of Drowning in the Kern, Chester and the Bluebird and On the Fence. This is the ethereal yet concrete fine poetry of a master poet.

In Chester and the Bluebird, a spirited blue bird standing in for a beloved pet steer, just reduced to sizzling steaks on the family barbecue, is Rose’s respectful reply to the classic, important image of a red wheel/barrow/glazed with rain/water/beside the white/chickens, written by the pillar of Objectivism, William Carlos Williams.

The poetry in this collection has been forged and tempered over decades of writing, while also teaching English at the secondary and college level; attending numerous workshops with some of the best writers of our time; and promoting and showcasing the work of her fellow writers and artists through founding Writers Unlimited and editing and publishing the Manzanita anthologies and other publications.

With the publication of River by the Glass, we at last have the collected poetry to date, of the hardest working poet I have been privileged to know. GlenHill is proud to present these fruits of her long labor.

                                                                        Ron Pickup

                                                                        March 23, 2011

                                                                       Soulsbyville,California