Locating moments of astonishment in our everyday lives, Cotter seeks moments of quiet beauty and mystery to interrogate relationships, asking questions that offer no easy answers. Blending history and nature, these poems frequently move from images to larger questions about the human experience. There’s a darkness and deeper haunting that’s never far. I wanted to write you/ Something pretty among the roses, / But these ruddy bouquets want/ Me to tell you about how war begins. These poems move from love to inheritance and heartbreak, deepening our understanding of what it means to be human. These poems offer a rediscovery of life in all its beauty and terror