Right from the beginning, Elise Stuart's collection of poems, Across A Field of Stars, takes you on a journey. You feel the heat of the sand at the water's edge in the New Mexican desert, you see the little side path that brings you to the slow-moving river, you hear the rush of ravens' wings flying above your head. The journey becomes more intimate as Stuart takes you on the path of her own story of loss and transformation, constantly entwined and enlivened by the wind in the trees and the stars shining light against the dark.