Poetry. Rachel Tzvia Back's third full-length book of poems, A MESSENGER COMES is a harrowing book that takes the reader to the edge of grief. As Hank Lazer's writes, while Back's book is beautifully rich and emotionally engaging, this is no simple book of consolation. In its steadfast beauty, it is a book of questions: can grief be sustained? What can we learn from the grief of another? Thus this is a messenger we will want and need to welcome time and again.