Mostly Sweet, Lovely, Human Things

Mostly Sweet, Lovely, Human Things feels like a joyful, tender, eternal embrace. These poems are full of wonder and a desire for wholeness: recollections of girlhood, the poet now in a knowing season of life, no longer afraid of death. The poems feel wise and free. Marchand writes, "[Poetry] divines understanding / of the fledgling self/ and by showing us to ourselves, / saves us from our own extinctions." This is a marvelous book of delightful sweetness.

-Lee Herrick, California Poet Laureate and author of In Praise of Late Wonder

Mostly Sweet, Lovely, Human Things offers poems that strive toward their reader, poems that "make every line count as much as breathing." In a rich and familiar voice that sounds to your spirit like an old friend, these poems speak of comfort and encouragement, recognition, and wisdom. This generous and vulnerable collection is a sanctuary of warmth and connection in the lonely wilderness of living.

-Rena Priest, Washington State Poet Laureate (2021-23) and author of Patriarchy Blues