Rodent Angel is a story of innocence and betrayal; of the death drive and the drive to create-a violent, powerful story about the human family. With an unflinching eye, Debra Weinstein writes of live and destruction and gives us insight in the telling. In these spare, elegant lyrics, the poet slowly advances on her subject until it is trapped in the reader;s palm. Rodent Angel is a book where pieces and fragments of a picture emerge before the entire picture-and just when you think that the writer has resolved an issue it reemerges in another form. These are poems of no uncertain terms. Whether she is singing of loss or her coming child, Debra Weinstein's voice is gutsy and uncompromising.