A daring affirmation of the beauty and wonder of life in the face of all the negatives we can summon, personal and historical as daring as Keats' affirmation of beauty a year before his death, as broad as Whitman's celebrations, not forgetting his ironic celebration of the sale of a a slave, and as willing to confront the depths of modern misery as found in the work of Primo Levi. Acharya brings a broad poetics to bear drawn from her Indian heritage and long career in Great Britain, deepened by her study of Emerson and deep readings of herb fellow, modern poets. "Dear Life" is a climactic book, like "Shringara" from 2005, and reclaims for poetry areas too often surrendered to other genres: narrative, philosophy, religion, and humor. Poets as diverse as Szirtes and Porter have sung her praise: "Dear Life" is sure to add to her appeal as it broadens her range dealing with our inmost anxieties and most immediate challenges in a world of constant upheaval and crisis.
