“The poems in Tidal bring a lifetime of struggle, wonder and pain into luminous relief. Standout pieces like ‘Cardinal Flower,’ ‘Chocolate Souffle,’ ‘Dad at 96,’ ‘Naming the Hills’ and the brilliant political allegory ‘Driving Lessons, Baldwin County, Georgia’ chronicle the passage of family, society and season with exuberant precision. Lee’s portrait of Georgia (where ‘the weight of kudzu collapses tar shacks, throttles trees’) is haunting, and her meditations on late motherhood and desire break new ground. Whether an old piano without a single working key, or ‘a loon calling make-love, make-love from the lake below,’ Mary Dean Lee hears the music in all things.”
— Derek Webster, author of Mockingbird and National Animal