The Angel of Absolute Zero

“In The Angel of Absolute Zero, Marjorie Stelmach leads us into a quiet realm arising out of both personal experience and reading. Whether she ponders a loon’s call or the secret origins of the cobalt blue in Chartres Cathedral’s windows, her discoveries and wise observations enrich the poems. Every image apt, every word in place, Stelmach’s beautiful book gives us the pure pleasure of her music and insights.”


—Jane O. Wayne, author of The Other Place You Live





“A true metaphysical empathy with the natural world—the spiritual specifics of our loss here on earth—a humble voice of beauty—a quick intelligence, a belief that hopes to save us with original singing.”


—Christopher Buckley, author of The Consolations of Science & Philosophy





“As life on earth grows more perilous daily, what can save us? asks Marjorie Stelmach. When ‘all calling is calling to an Other who has never / answered—this is Sorrow itself.’ Still, as she grieves in her new, achingly beautiful poems, she calls on the ‘Lord of our benightedness’ to ‘give us this day / our impure world / to make of it / what bread we can.’”


—Allison Funk, author of The Visible Woman