Falling into light

Reading Nevada City poet Molly Fisk’s new collection, The More Difficult Beauty, gives one the odd sensation of falling down a well, but instead of entering darkness, we fall into light. Fisk’s words provide darkness and shadow, but these poems twist this into a kind of release, leaving the reader with a bittersweet, sobering hope. Organized into eight sections, each titled with decisive, unambiguous words such as “sugar,” “light” and “fire,” effectively creates micro-collections within a connected, tightly themed work. Lovely reflective poems, like “Stinson, Sunset,” are about places as much as the emotion associated with them. Other poems read like heart stories responding to incest, womanhood, sex and the process of loving. The More Difficult Beauty takes us deeper into the fabric of life, to the unseen waft and weave, sometimes harsh to the hand, yet rich with contrasts for a feasting eye.