Welcome to the generous world of Liza Wolff-Francis. It seems nothing escapes her gaze, concern, and wonder: a pelican eating trash down the Jersey shore, gun culture, women making their own good fortunes with found dimes. These poems look at our ragged, unjust, and often dangerous world, where Miss Universe appears in Atlantic City against the background of a rising ocean and endangered whales. I’ve forgotten the meaning of virtue, she writes, considering the harsh treatment of immigrants. These poems are earnest and compassionate, where anger and grief share space with the glimmers of hope found in friendships, family, and fellow creatures. When she writes, I will always believe people can change, we believe her, and take heart. - Debra Kaufman, author of Outwalking the Shadow

Liza Wolff-Francis goes down the shore, walks the boards of Atlantic City, and returns with 48 hours down the shore, a remarkably big-hearted collection. Monarch butterflies, panhandling children, a count of mezuzahs on doors, shore birds, menstruation, beach walks, climate crisis, casino gamblers—each receives a generous share of care, craft, and observation, all are set within the context of the author’s vision of a shortsighted, destructive, but beloved “’Merica.” She writes, imagine if I could / hold a tone of love that could be felt. In 48 hours down the shore that tone is held and felt. - Joan Barasovska, author of Orange Tulips