How do we move forward after enormous loss? Perhaps like the lightning-struck tree, half of it shorn of leaves the other half full, standing, / swaying…. In these beautiful, intimate poems spoken from the heart of grief, the speaker urges herself not to flinch, letting the knife settle where it will, / blade nestled between a rib and a rib. Life and death go hand and hand here, and the natural world that consoles is also a constant reminder of our own mortality. Because Clark is a terrific poet, she can also make something true and moving out of cold air…with lamenting words…an invigorating, heel-kicking tune.

–Sharon Bryan, Sharp Stars