In this brief collection of twenty poems, award-winning author Kimberly Davis explores the loss of loved ones as an ongoing process working a strange alchemy upon the human spirit. Alchemies of Loss features Davis's poems "Thumbprint on Estate Papers," winner of First Prize in Poetry and the Benefactor's Prize at the 2007 Whidbey Island Writers Conference, and "Alchemy," winner of the 2009-2010 James Wright Poetry Award. Contest judge, Pulitzer Prize-winner Carl Dennis, said that Davis's winning poem, "not only deals with a particular loss, but finds a way to explore loss as a process." He also praised the poem's tonal quality as it "hovers over the question of whether loss can lead to gain." This poetry chapbook makes a lovely and inspiring gift for anyone suffering loss or bereavement. The cover features the arresting "weeping angel" image.