Susanna Childress

This collection is first and foremost an exploration and tribute to the typical observations of human relations and natural tragedies expressed in the atypical voice of a poet. The poetry presents an interesting sense of connection and unity on a universal level that Childress handles with an intensely astounding understanding and breathtaking subtlety. Her methods of relaying such troubled concepts as disease, social otherness, and familial trauma in the poetic voice are often times through the comparison of such situations with tangible disruptions of order (car crashes) or by means of association with other occurrences in other poems in the book in a manner that creates clarity and order within her collection. The grace, potency, and specific artistry of Childress in this omnibus of works allow for a privileged exploration of the various facets of her skill and all the elements that make her poetry highly readable and remarkably poignant.… (mere)