Mary Ellen Branan returns again and again to test what stands between us, never quite giving up on what might connect us. These poems are touching and well-traveled in the least facile sense of these terms. They cherish contact as well as the possibility of genuine sympathy, proving the tender spot between the self and the other, either human or animal. These poems venture out to various points in the United States and Poland, not as a tourist's appropriation of exotic places and creatures, but as the fragile words of a person in search of intimate communion, a bond made more precious by Branan's honest treatment of human failings. Weavings is a quiet, important book of poems.-Richard Lyons, author of Fleur Carnivore, 2005 Washington PrizeThe act of becomingtakes us on many adventures-some intentional, some fateful.Poet Mary Branan's work chronicles life, death, family,and even Poland, with a warmthand sophistication that only timeand artistic sensitivity can bring.Carry this along in your own journeys.-Karla K. Morton, author of Redefining Beauty; Texas Poet Laureate, 2010Mary Ellen Branan's poems comprise a tapestry of exceptional observation and feeling. Branan crafts the warp and weft of life, colorfully detailed with a precise memory and threaded through with seasoned wisdom.-Jan Seale, author of The Wonder Is (Panther Creek Press)