The eagerly awaited new poems from the author of Wet. Toni Stern enjoyed a highly productive collaboration with the singer-songwriter Carole King. Stern wrote the lyrics for several of King's songs, most notably "It's Too Late" for the album Tapestry. Here, with affection and insight, she examines the breadth and boundaries of family, place, language, and self. As Close as I Can is her second volume of poetry. "When Toni and I first started writing songs in 1969, her poetry took the form of lyrics. Today, as then, her poems are filled with an inherent musicality that joins with her words to evoke emotions and provoke the imagination. Enjoy the journey!" --Carole King "Toni Stern has given us some jewels of hard-earned wisdom in a voice, by turns, wry, tender, and often aslant--as Dickinson tells us the telling of truth must be." --Dan Gerber, Sailing through Cassiopeia