“Through her honest portrayal of the lived experience, Linda Albert’s poetry brings to the reader the knowing smile of recognition. In A Question of Time she posits that ‘sometimes all the pieces do come together and there is time to tell the whole story.’ Her poetry is a collection of many stories providing insight and humor, the sweet and the bittersweet, powerful and poignant observations on life and living. In When They Were Born she writes, ‘These days no rituals exist for adults to go alone into the wilderness of their own lives, face demons and catastrophes from which no one else can save them.’ If not the ritual, Albert’s poetry provides the beauty, the solace and the magic to at least make meaning of the journey.”

“Charting the Lost Continent is a celebration of womanhood. Linda Albert is truly a master poet. Over the years, I have read her poems one-at-a-time, and have always been profoundly moved by her poetic vision into and about the many dimensions of womanhood.“Linda’s poetry brings to mind the image of a rhizome. Always hidden under the surface of the earth, it sends its roots deep into Mother Earth, and, above ground, it sends up stems with its fruits into the light of day. Through the lens of her own life, her own rhizome, Linda’s poems reveal the deep roots, and complex fruits of womanhood—our moods, thoughts, joys, sorrows, and deepest yearnings.“Through this volume of poems, Linda Albert has found that illusive Lost Continent, which so aptly symbolizes womanhood. Now, that I have read this volume of her collected poems, I see that she achieves what all poets hope to accomplish. Upon reading Charting the Lost Continent, I am held in that place, which James Joyce called a state of esthetic arrest—that moment when the reader finds herself in a state of awe, or “ah ha!” At this moment, I am held safely inside Linda’s vision, her rhythms, and her word, and am filled with beauty, truth, magic, radiance, deep happiness, and satisfaction—and am given a new sense of myself as woman.”

“Poems filled with feminine strength and power. A deep dive into the secret spaces in Everywoman’s heart.”

“Linda Albert takes us on a journey through the internal world of inquiry while intertwining mythology with the details of daily life and aging.

She leads us through Persephone’s underworld up through the creative source, ‘Those creative juices—like the red grapes/ in the glass dish on the top shelf/ of the refrigerator, now wrinkled as raisins.’

“Albert takes us from the deepest human yearnings and regrets to the ‘joys of peanut butter’ and ‘a wooden desk lit by a window.’ With naked awareness, she illustrates the landscape of life and its betrayals: ‘If I could, I would tear this betrayal off/ like sagging nylons.’ As she charts this lost continent, we are brought home to ourselves and she tells herself ‘…refuse to suffer over suffering.’ Focusing on the feminine, her poetry includes all—Jung’s anima and animus.”

“Her preface poem declares that the reclaiming and charting of The Feminine requires ‘heart and steel.’ Linda Albert lives and writes with both those qualities. In a long career as an educator and consultant, she has been her own best healer, and describes a peak healing moment as ‘a jolt in every cell.’ In this collection of powerful poetry, Linda nourishes the reader with the ‘stew’ of herself, so she ‘won’t / have to die / uneaten.’ She shares with us her dreams, her wisdom, her dark humor in generous ways that make them part of our own rich stew. She’s willing to be our compassionate witness ‘when it’s your turn’ at Four A.M. From the mysterious (but recognizable) ‘This’ in the poem Untitled, to the delightful (and recognizable) lure of the fridge in Lorelei, this collection is a pathfinder and welcome companion for the reader’s (extra)ordinary life.”

“In poetry, Linda Albert seemingly allows herself to experience life unmasked and unshielded from the intensity of her own inner truth. And, in reading and soaking into her poignant metaphors, my own mask dissolves long enough for a quick unshielded glimpse at my own inner truth.”

“Linda Albert’s poetry gracefully reveals her contemplation of a life fully lived. She says—and clearly demonstrates through her writing—that she is ‘. . . still in the mental morning of life’ while, at the same time, she exhibits the wisdom that comes with age, with living through the deaths of friends, with ‘the blows life sends us.’ I love the way she sums it all up in her poem What Matters Now. Her answer? The poem.”

“The poems in Linda Albert’s Charting the Lost Continent are well crafted and filled with wisdom and sensual insight. There is ‘still time, though late, to bloom another season, to write the story,’ she tells us, for ‘the dead leave their auras behind for us to carry.’ Linda’s authentic and brave revelations are a map for her readers to use as a guide through loss and growth into praise song.”

“Poetry, if well done, offers us a threshold into that world where deep calls unto deep, and we are connected with an archetypal reality that speaks with a thousand voices. In this book, Linda Albert ushers us across that threshold and brings us into an intimately nuanced world of feminine psyche and soul. She has woven a verbal tapestry of such eloquent honesty and courageous vulnerability it had me wiping tears and shouting, Yes! This!”

“Linda Albert, poet/sorcerer, unspools fearless verse into the achingly intimate territory of the elegiac, plumbs the unanswerable, then flares her cape to reveal an Ode to a Peanut and a glimpse of her Moon Garden. I hear a cello.”

“Revealing, relatable, and provocative, the interior recesses of a fully-lived life are laid bare in Linda Albert’s Charting the Lost Continent. Here the reader finds connection through a deeply moving examination of the human experience, womanhood, and the arc of one individual’s life. This collection is a homecoming; a contemplative garden in which to linger.”

“This book of poetry brings us into a sacred domain, opening vistas and truths in a voice we can all too easily understand. One does not so much read these words, but listens to the stories of a wise one, teaching us about life, transgressions, benevolence and ultimately reflecting on the ending of life.

“The poet’s words linger as a refrain from a haunting melody, making us smile, remember, tear up, recalling the miracle of our children’s birth, while knowing that our time is nearly over. Each refrain draws us into a story about life, about thresholds we have had to cross. ‘Welcome back, Welcome back,’ and we are brought to our knees remembering those times when a warm smile erased our fears of being cast off. Then, without asking, she reminds us that ‘flesh and spirit must take separate bows,’ while admitting to being, ‘afraid to go where I have never been.’ Linda Albert’s words are wings carrying me to places I need to go.”

“This collection of poems takes Linda Albert’s readers on a courageous journey of navigation and discovery within the familiar worlds of family, personal loss and gain, lessons learned, and hopes for resolution. Hers is a voice of wisdom, often calling upon myth to illustrate the timeless qualities of human experience, yet also grounded in contemporary life where being a woman and a poet are gifts that both gratify and challenge. Read Charting the Lost Continent, knowing you can follow Albert’s map to find a way to love this fleeting life.”

“Linda Albert’s poems resonate with the quest to be heard, the challenge to continue emerging, and the search for a meaningful life. Kudos for her exquisite words that plumb our emotions. As she so eloquently writes, ‘It isn’t always easy - this struggle, this so-called journey into wholeness.’”

“Linda Albert’s poetry captures the life cycle of the heart’s secret joys and griefs from birth through aging. Her keen observations of the routine to the sublime, prod us to re-examine our own search for (our authentic self,) meaning (and purpose) in the changing landscape of our lives. Like bite-sized meditations, these poems can be savored over and over again.”

“With rapier wit and humble heart, Linda explores the seasons of life, distilling her 82 years into poems with soul and humor. She expertly weaves together mythology, feminism and fairy tales, dressing herself in the bones of daughter, mother, wife, grandmother, poet, lover, thinker. From diapers to death, Linda is fierce, honing the poet’s knife to cut through and into the reality of what makes a life. She spares us nothing but the truth lived through the fire of meticulous thought and iambic pentameter. She has set a rich feast before us, with amuse-bouches, tempting morsels, deeply satisfying dishes, rich desserts. May her book feed your soul as it has mine.”