In Lean House, Marci Ameluxen painstakingly reconstructs the shattered picture of a childhood pervaded by a mother's mental illness. Each poem a shard, fragmentary as shards are-voice and content meld creating a form that is all Ameluxen's own. These lyric poems are woven through with a subtle basting of narrative. Inquiring and without an ounce of self pity, Ameluxen's poems enact the ancient precept of living an examined life. And something more: the mix of anguish, love, and compassion one so near and so dear can provoke in any of us. -- Lorraine Healy, author of The Habit of Buenos Aires