"The poems in Colorscapes, Lee Woodman's latest book, seem born from deep study and a passionate enthusiasm for color, which she explores in the natural world, at the heart of stories, and in the hands of artists. Her images can be dazzling as a peacock's spread tail, especially when describing birds, flowers, and gardens. Readers will enjoy, as did I, an inviting variety in poems' tone, content, and type. One witty narrative poem, "Devil with My Green Dress On," recounts a laugh-out-loud incident featuring an emerald green velvet gown worn by a usurper. Many of Woodman's poems offer not only fancy but fascinating fact, such as that Tyrian purple dye used in ancient Greece 'came from milked sea snails.' Among my favorite poems are the ekphrastic ones that respond to art and artists such as Leibovitz, Bonnard, and Vermeer. In 'Caravaggio, a Story in Tenebroso' the painter 'confesses / through drama of color, he's / John himself in fiery shroud.' When you have Colorscapes in hand and are ready to read, you're in for a treat. The drama of color and its beauty suffuses the book."

-Margaret Hasse, poet, author of Belongings and eight other poetry collections

"Colorscapes is a book about life-about green and yellow and 'provocative pink, ' about bugs and bluejays and bunnies. It speaks of ancient rocks, flitting butterflies, and the colors we see as well as those we feel. Lee Woodman's poems blend sound with color in cadenced, syncopated rhythms that are primal and instinctual, fresh and new. Like the musicians, poets, painters, and natural forms that inspired her, Woodman charges us to live and breathe through color, reminding us that color suffuses our lives with meaning and memory, and through color we relive experiences we've had, people we've met, and passions that have enriched our lives."

-Virginia M. Mecklenburg, chief Curator Emerita, Smithsonian American Art Museum

"Lee welcomes us into her dining room like a cordial spy. But if you listen closely, you'll hear an inner roar. I trust her more than the New York Times."

-Sparrow, author of Small Happiness and Other Epiphanies, most published author in The SUN magazine since its inception