Keeping Afloat (Essential Poets) - Softcover

'In her new collection, Travis Lane speaks of the 'impermanent elation' that 'a word,/ like a live fish in water, sometimes shows'. The language of 'Keeping Afloat' flashes with wit, sensuousness, and a combination of faith (elation) and scepticism (impermanence). In a time when too many poets favour fragments or the plainest syntax, it's also a relief to read the aphorism 'To read the sentence is to resist fellowship,' from a poet whose own style is welcoming and gymnastic in its joinings and its jumps.' - Brian Bartlett

M. Travis Lane (1934), a poet, reviewer, and critic, received her PhD from Cornell University. She has been a Graduate Research Associate for the Department of English at the University of New Brunswick since 1972. "Divinations and Shorter Poems 1973-1978" was awarded the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. "Keeping Afloat" (2001) won the 2002 Atlantic Poetry Prize.