In A River Within Spills Light, Jane Attanucci expresses the love and grief of her childhood family and the richness of her adult life, from her mother's early death to the joys of grandchildren and the bittersweet truths of aging. In form and free verse, her images emerge: from the familiar, "a child rings the bells on bicycles locked to the wrought-iron fence;" to the magical, "face-to-face with August, / the night sky's wild abundance;" and the mystical, "unexpected terror of recognition / ache of the light."