This collection begins by celebrating openings; moments that give an abundant sense of possibility. The poems sometime return here but also move through other themes - by way not of sections, but of transitional poems - to death and the Spanish Civil War, to art and different perspectives on creating. The poems then shift their attention to love - its dazzlement, its despair. The book ends with a series of poems about our very reciprocal relationship with the natural world, noting especially the ways in which it speaks to us - the green flash Tipton is a poet, translator, and teacher, known for her prize-winning translations of Spanish poet, Rafael Alberti. Born and raised in Berkeley, she earned a Master's Degree in English/Creative Writing from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley, where she currently teaches in the Fall Program for Freshmen. She has taught at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa, and SFSU.