Written over an eight-year period, the poems in State of Grace: The Joshua Elegies chronicle the death of Alexis Rhone Fancher's only child, Joshua Dorian Rhone, at the age of 26, and its aftermath of devastation, grief, and reflection. Because she was a divorced parent since her son was three, the bond between mother and child was particularly strong, making Joshua's early death especially wrenching.
But Fancher, an award-winning poet known for her frank, image-filled poetry, has created a work of hope, joy, and lasting beauty--which poet Jack Grapes calls "a magnificent testament to the resilience of the human spirit"--where she indeed finds solace and a "state of grace."
Poet Cynthia Atkins calls Fancher's collection of elegies "the ultimate tribute to her beloved son."
"Fancher's heart is large, refuses to shut down to sorrow and loss, but instead, allows her brave and resilient voice to shine the light, to move us all forward into a state of grace."
Two of the poems in the chapbook have been nominated for the 2015 Best of the Net Anthology: "The Competition" (KYSO Flash) and "when her son is dead seven years" (Blotterature).
Since 2013, Fancher's work has been nominated for four Pushcart Prizes and four Best of the Net awards.
She is also the author of How I Lost My Virginity to Michael Cohen: and other heart-stab poems (Sybaritic Press, 2014). Her poems have been published in numerous literary journals and magazines, as well as in 25 American and international anthologies, and her photographs have been published worldwide.
Fancher is photography editor of Fine Linen, and poetry editor of Cultural Weekly, where she also publishes The Poet's Eye, a monthly photo essay about her ongoing love affair with Los Angeles. She lives in downtown L.A. with her husband and co-creator James Fancher in their eighth-floor loft/studio.