Season of Mercy explores the different "seasons" of spiritual life and examines issues of faith and responsibility. This evocative collection charts the passage of the soul through time, from the darkness of despair to the awakening and understanding of one's own caling and vocation. "A long battle of constellations we are,/ clinging clandestinely/ to light after light/ swinging back into darkness/ once more into mercy."

Skillfully drawing on myth, nature, biblical themes, and her own experience as a writer and mother, Ito weaves a philosophic and poetic landscape from which the world can be comprehended with grace and compassion.

This second volume of poems by award-winning Sally Ito follows her successful debut Frogs in the Rain Barrel, which was runner-up for the Milton Acorn's People's Poetry Award. Season of Mercy explores the different seasons and issues surrounding faith and responsibility; from the darkness of despair to the awakening and understanding of one's own calling and vocation. Skillfully drawing on myth, biblical themes, the natural world, and her own experiences as a mother and writer, Ito weaves a philosophic and poetic landscape, commenting on the necessity of viewing the world around us with mercy, compassion and faith.

Touching on each of the four seasons, Ito addresses a vast range of subjects and muses - including adultery, Good Friday, rape by water, prayer, seahorses and the allure of floating islands. The poetry is rich, the language alive with allusion and metaphor.

Sally Ito was born in Taber, Alberta and grew up in Edmonton and the Northwest Territories. She studied at the University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta, and travelled on scholarship to Japan, where she translated Japanese poetry. Her first book of poems, Frogs in the Rain Barrel (Nightwood, 1995) was runner-up for the Milton Acorn People's Poetry Award. Her second book, Floating Shore (Mercury Press), won the Writers Guild of Alberta Book Award for short fiction, and was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Literary Prize and the City of Edmonton Book Prize. Her work has appeared in numerous periodicals such as Grain, Matrix and the Capilano Review and in the anthologies Breathing Fire: Canada's New Poets and Poets 88. Ito lives in Edmonton with her husband and son.

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