In Mummery, all the world's a stage. Historically, mummery requires silence, but on the stage crafted by Maura Way, nothing goes unsaid. Poem after poem presents a speaker unafraid to dissect the performance of a life in which every familiar story is rendered the strangest adventure. (Christopher Shipman) These poems are wise, genial, witty, and sharp as acid rain. They sing hard through American heartache. (Catherine Wagner) We're lucky when a poet's sense of humor merges with old-soul wisdom . . . . This poet, who, she avows, has "seen clowns from / both sides now." (Janet Holmes)