"Cognizant of loss but always celebratory, Lockward's poems are irreverent, ravenous for the world, and unabashedly female. When, in 'Losing the Blues,' she writes, 'I could burn / the hands off a man,' you have no doubt that she is singing a true song."
--Kim Addonizio

"Diane Lockward's poems are both naughty and nice. The floodgate opens with the first word of each, and an elemental, sexy, womanly energy rushes forth. That's the naughty part. Here are lyrics and narrative poems that cry out against our (mis)conceptions, poems charged by the freedoms, fires and temptations they celebrate. Don't underestimate womankind, Lockward seems to be saying, and don't underestimate the power and clarity, the sheer dramatic precision of this work. 'Lascivious, licentious, libidinous,' the poet says about the 'delicious' words she savors, and because they are and she does, we come to the nice part-the pay-off that scintillates and lingers in the mind of the reader."
--Gray Jacobik

"In poem after poem, Diane Lockward brings to bear great shrewdness and great feeling. Always refusing the easy exit, she takes the full, surprising measure of every situation. Her work, even as it tackles the impure world of human conduct, is a pure delight. She revels in the powers of language and this book is one in which all readers can revel."
--Baron Wormser