As the epigraph to her book, "I am the door / Only for those who suffer," from Carlos Edmundo de Ory, warns in BECAUSE YOU LOVE, Maria Bennett's poems form a cricible for suffering and yet manage to praise the power of love in the face of sicknes, aging, and death. Bennett's sensual lines are sparse, but rich and complex, like Theolonius Monk deconstructing a familiar melody.