The Lost Thing is a collection of poems exploring absence and loss and the potential of language to witness that loss. These poems capture the certain fading away--of family, individuals, places, and emotions. The inevitable erasures of time are countered by poetry that is often startling and compelling, asserting the necessity for a clear-eyed sensibility that is both honest and humane. The poet steadfastly refuses to settle for a facile cheerfulness or inspiration. Her territory is wide-ranging, sometimes wry, and relentlessly probing, with an eye always to the ironic, the strange, and the downright curious. In images that are precise and memorable, Gordon's poetry is hard-hitting and provocative, covering diverse subjects from the worlds of art, poetry, history, as well as the quotidian, topics often turned inside out to ensure the reader's focus and renewed attention.