This Far

“Anchored by the grace she discovers in nature, in fine painting, in her God, and even in the ‘sound of cows munching,’ O’Toole’s exquisite poems explore the universe of beauty and of loss.” —Jill Pelaez-Baumgaertner, poetry editor, The Christian Century; author of What Cannot be Fixed
 
“O’Toole’s visionary poems explore the boundaries between light and dark, past and present, life and death.” —Michael Simms, poet and publisher, Vox Populi and Autumn House Press
 
“Distinctive images from nature and the ancestral past shape Kathleen O’Toole’s unique voice, sustaining a compelling image of the poem as a reliquary that holds the treasures we cherish at turning points in life.”  —Kathleen Staudt, author of Waving Back: Poems of Mothering Life  
 
“O’Toole proves that she is not only a master of poetic form, but a seasoned pilgrim whom we can trust. Here is that rare thing: a voice acutely attuned to the world of pain through which we pass daily. What an incredible observer and naturalist she is, deeply contemplative and mindful and at the same time deeply elegiac.” —Paul Mariani, poet, biographer and memoirist; author The Mystery of It All: The Vocation of Poetry in the Twilight of Modernism