Alexander’s poetry is specific, local, and universal at the same time. Her images are powerful and her language honed to the elemental common denominators of land, water, and sky, and the natural forces that exist in these elements.
"Nothing You Can Carry is a luxurious, melodic dance to the loudest sounds that come in the quietest of moments. When how and what we believe comes face to face with memory, the stars, family, and faith — music and magic happen. Susan Alexander is a master of building colour and confession into the intangibles we carry and the ones we cannot.”
— Chelene Knight, author of Dear Current Occupant
“The writer is a talented and accomplished poet who handles the language of poetry with great authority, and the reader gets a strong sense that this is a voice rich in experience and wisdom.” — Lorna Goodison,
former poet laureate of Jamaica.
“Nothing You Can Carry is at once a warning, a prayer and a love song . . . sometimes shocking, sometimes sobering, often heart-pulling and always gorgeously crafted. Mostly, this collection is a cautionary tale, a reminder of what is loved and what is always, ever, in danger of being lost.” — Dr. Laura Apol, Michigan State University, author of Nothing
but the Blood