Dear Leah, Kevin, Christen, and all the lovely people at Finishing Line Press:
I have such deep gratitude to express for all your efforts to bring Neoteny: Poems into the world. Though my work has been published in anthologies, Neoteny is my first solo literary endeavor. It’s a beautiful feeling when I can hand this book to someone and know that every page shows signs of my labor, that each poem is a piece I have read and reread and tweaked and formatted and reformatted. I have sighed, laughed, and cried over these poems, and it means so much to me that they are all together in this enchanting little book.
I cannot tell you how it lifted my spirits to receive my books in the mail. With my right arm in a splint and sling, I could not even carry the box. But I worked the scissors in my left hand and gingerly folded back the cardboard flaps. The book’s bright cover made me so happy, and even though I have stared at it many times, the colors still blow me away.
I am thankful to you for the care, attention, artistry, and professional respect you have shown me. I am honored by our collaboration: we have worked hard to create a book that will make us proud. Thank you for helping me delight in this first book!
Warmly,
Emily, a happy poet
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On the Blink 
“Neotony” was a fascinating experience for me because it made me realize how little emphasis I give to the impressions and information I receive through my senses of smell, hearing (except with music), touch and taste. Your poems were actually a revelation to me because your experiences through these senses are so profound, engaging, emotional, exciting and revealing. I will read these poems again and again for their beauty and their tender instruction for me. I know you love music as I do and know much more about it technically because you sing, so I want to recommend to you a podcast that I am really enjoying. It’s called AriaCode and it centers on the deconstruction of famous operatic arias (Opera is my favorite music) with panel members coming at the pieces and the experiences they evoke from several different angles: musicology, of course, but also psychological and cultural and social points of view as well. If you have not already discovered this podcast, I think you would enjoy this way of thinking about opera music. Your friend and admirer, Lois
Lois, thank you for your warm words! I love thinking about NEOTENY as a revelation!
I have not heard of that podcast before and I am looking it up now!
Let me know if you find and enjoy AriaCode too. Lois