Patricia Doherty looked deeply into people, nature, events, and herself. She knew whether beauty was intrinsic or superficial, and understood the complexities and contraditions of human nature, which she chronicled in the Dismas Shaunnesey Mysteries and Visitations of Grace. In her poems she reflected on life: the joys, the sorrows, the humor, the irony, the goals, the frustrations, and looked to make sense of them. They surprise us, as they surprised her, with their glimpses into and beyond our world.