Beyond Expectations by Cada McCoy

Observant, curious, ever-attentive to detail, Cada McCoy writes with sparkling precision. Her Beyond Expectations broaches the essential choices we all must make in the time we are given.

—Arthur McMaster, author of The Whole Picture Show

Here is a long-needed fresh voice of formalism perfectly rendered. Each syllable is expertly chosen, as is its rhyming pair. Somehow working within the scaffolding of poetic forms–and that tight economy of language that carries into the free verse pieces in Beyond Expectations as well–McCoy’s creations find the seemingly ironic freedom of writing with attention to structure and the deliberate intention to delight. These poems show us truths about our world, crafted into what Frost called “the best words in the best order.” Brava to this innovative new voice in verse.

—Ashley Crout, four-time Pushcart Prize nominee, recipient of awards from The Academy of American Poets and The Poetry Foundation and a poetry grant from The Astraea Foundation, with work appearing in publications including Michigan Quarterly Review, New Orleans Review, Atticus Review and Dodging the Rain.

Cada McCoy’s poetry is a delicious indulgence best spooned, sipped and slurped like simmering stew. These are get-under-the-skin, stick-to-the-bone kind of poems!

The pith, the pitch, the perspective. Perfection!

—Susan Kammeraad-Campbell, editor, teacher and award-winning author