Critical Commentary

On Bright Seeds:

”To the very end of his life, Henry David Thoreau encouraged his readers to rest their 'faith in a seed.' With these new poems, Kathryn T. S. Bass proliferates such faith into a garden world where even stones and bright metals burst into flower. Best of all, her faith has made a path for us to follow there."

Donald Revell (Pennyweight Windows: New & Selected Poems)

"Kathryn T. S. Bass's Bright Seeds is the garden of the mind, fragmentary and expansive, a free-fall world where what is named and unnamed equally blossom." (Kathryn Winograd, author of Air into Breath, winner of the Colorado Book Award)

"Kathryn T. S. Bass’s garden of “bright seeds” provides nourishment for soul and flesh with intense imagery that draws us back to the poems again and again. The “fragile hinge” of words links the careful reader to a new way of imagining the world. Here is a voice to celebrate!" (Catherine Wiley, author of Failing Better)

Praise for Within/Without: A Conversation in Poetry and Painting

“The shared syntax of the visual and the literary in this project produces a new brilliance.” (Bin Ramke, author of Matter)

“The blending of Graham’s haunting & elegant visual style with Bass’s eloquent poetry results in a work of heightened meaning and resonance.” (Shannon Daut, Programs Director, Western States Arts Federation)

“. . .[A]n evocative and sensual work of art. This is a book to be cherished and enjoyed, not once, but again and again.” (David Cuomo, publisher of Colorado Modern)

“[These pieces] are beautiful, a word that has sadly lost some of its luster in the art and poetry worlds the last few decades. Fruit life, animal pain, splashes of intricate color inside color, all come together in a startled synesthesia, color as sound, words as paint.” (Brian Kiteley, author of Still Life with Insects)

"To the very end of his life, Henry David Thoreau encouraged his readers to rest their "faith in a seed." With these new poems, Kathryn T. S. Bass proliferates such faith into a garden world where even stones and bright metals burst into flower. Best of all, her faith has made a path for us to follow there." (Donald Revell)