This is the final volume of Avison’s collection, although two more individual works followed (Momentary Dark and Listening), one before and one following her death in July, 2007. This final volume contains her most mature poetry—her best work.

I loved the increased biblical imagery and themes in these works. It was particularly interesting to read her take on Job (“Job: Word and Action”) from Not Yet But Still. There are many moments in these poems that make a believer pause to meditate.

I found these later poems easier to understand. The obscure vocabulary that riddled her early works has been traded in for more common terms that still find renewed meaning when she places them in lines.

On one hand, it’s sad to know I’ve read that last of Avison. Thankfully, she’s left a canon that can be reread and revisited for years.

Avison, Margaret. Always Now: The Collected Poems. Vol. 3. Porcupine’s Quill, 2005.