In a collection evoking luminescent images, poet Rose Lucas explores nature and beauty, love and travel. Even in the Dark contains delicate poems of the lives of women and the exquisite beauty contained in the act of observation. The entire lifespan is present here, in vitro to the final hours, developing and then ageing bodies captured in whisps of lovely images, images that also contain danger and risk. In this, her first volume of poetry, Lucas has distilled years of writing into an impressive selection. *** "These poems are eloquent, graceful and meticulously candid. Their subjects are often local - but Rose Lucas"s major concern is the universal, how life"s balance sheet of wins and losses plays out over changes in time and place. Her control of line patterns, the vigour and clarity of her perceptions, her poise and light-footed music pervade the book in moving ways. There is a questing, vulnerable sensuousness here, yet the overall spirit of her poetry is reverence and joy." -- Judith Beveridge