THE MIRROR       Among poets universally there prevails a passionate tradition of the poet as the 'outsider.' While entire civilizations may come and go, with the names of its despots, warlords, local heroes and heorines lost for naught, mere fragments of verse have survived centuries as fresh utterance. Such was the case for Mirabai, the 16th century Rajastani princess whose songs are still sung today in an unbroken lineage of bhakti yoga or devotional love throughout the sub-continent of India, strangely immune to ancient rivalies of caste, religion and tribe. Much has been made of Mirabai's 'outsider' qualities by contemporary Western translators of her work, drawn, no doubt, from the biographical details of her life. However, in my estimate, what makes these translations of Mirabai so remarkable is not so much this simpatico recognition among poets across time and space, but that for the first time these poems are rendered in the context of their original transmissions by one who is herself an initiate, tantric practicioner, and acarya of poetics. Included in this publication are a number of erudite and exquisitely written essays on the music, tantric origins, and methods of translation. I'm very happy that Cool Grove Press has at long last brought this important work to fruition by publishing it. - Jacqueline Gens