“. . . a poignant, ground-breaking collection … I have had to read it as if I was savouring the most exquisite confection, in small slivers, such is the richness and the heart-rending beauty. “


- Claire Everett (Tanka Prose Editor at Haibun Today)

”... there is no doubt that this is a labor of love, and there is much here to enjoy and appreciate… it certainly is a fine tribute to svetlana, and an interesting commentary on the kind of relationship that might spring up, unbidden, from a mutual avocation, even through the somewhat impersonal channels of the internet”


- jim kacian (Chairperson of The Haiku Foundation)

“… I've never seen/read anything like it before - that exchanging between two haiku poets across the page, across time zones, across seasons, genders, age groups... It works extremely well as your voices balance and blend through the book. Beautiful.”


- Kirsten Cliff  (Editor of the haikai section of "a fine line", The Magazine of the New Zealand Poetry Society.)

"Yesterday, I ordered from Amazon a copy of Be Still and Know, honey. For months, I would write down one of your haiku on my palm in the morning to carry it through the day, until it faded with numerous hand-washing (caring for a baby does that).
Now I'll be able to have your words when I'm missing you, and when I need a "life pep-talk," and they won't fade away. They will be printed...in your book with Ted, and always in my heart. ♥"

 - Patricia Sullivan

"A literary treasure.” 

 - Robert Johnston

“... without question a genuine work of love … many (of the poems) are very fresh, original, ethereal, even sensually spiritual.   Svetlana was a most talented haiku poet, which makes her untimely death, from the vantage point of everyday consciousness, feel all the more cruel. There is so much youthful innocence (and accompanying naïveté) intermingling with a maturity beyond her years--a unique combination.
The inclusion of tanka, haiga, and haibun are a pleasant surprise and enrich this collection, which is a heartbreaking tribute to a most talented, fallen poet.
… Your poetry runneth over with the terrible ache of love and loss.  I deeply respect your extraordinary courage in turning toward the anguish and sorrow, giving it poetic expression.  "Be Still and Know" is itself a work of stillness.”


- Robert Epstein (Author of Dreams Wander On)