Mary Gilliland’s poems walk the trail from ease through elegance to a thoughtful intensity. She brings to her work the rich flavors of the natural world, yet her destination is clearly news of the inner self, its perceptions, its relationships with others. She is not afraid of delight, neither does she shirk the hard tasks of anger, pain, and deep caring. 

MARY OLIVER

Gilliland is a poet of witness and spirituality, grappling with climate devastation while also interrogating world policies and politics.

DENISE DUHAMEL

Gilliland waltzes smoothly between the cheeky and conversational and the lyrical….Across tightly-built lyrics, the poet establishes a levelheaded conversational ease that somehow makes room for celebration of the natural world, the inner world, and a sense of humor. Which is to say that Gilliland is full of surprises…

LITHUB

Gilliland turns every small, disappearing moment into something magnanimous and lasting.

ISHION HUTCHINSON