A daring affirmation of the beauty and wonder of life in the face of all the negatives we can summon, personal and historic, as daring as Keats' affirmation of beauty a year before his death, as broad as Whitman's celebrations, not forgetting his ironic celebration of the sale of a slave, as probing of the depths of modern misery as Primo Levi. Acharya brings a broad poetics to bear drawn from her Indian heritage and long career in Great Britain, deepened by her study of Emerson and deep readings of her fellow, modern poets.: Dear Life" is a climactic book, like Acharya's "Shringara" (2005). She reclaims for poetry areas to often surrounded to other genres: narrative, philosophy, religion, and humor. Poets s diverse as Porter and skirts have praised her work. "Dear Life" is sure to add to her appeal as it broadens her range dealing with our inmost anxieties and most immediate concerns in our eras of constant upheaval and crisis.