Mouthbrooders

Where does language originate, especially the language of poetry? In the brain or the emotions? In the images we behold, or in the memory? In this deeply observant collection, Amy Nawrocki asks, "What language do you have / for the barren days when nothing catches your eye?" And although "The contortionist is unable to speak / from all her sword swallowing," Nawrocki whose brain and emotions once survived a near-fatal illness, is able to be, in beautiful language, an eyewitness?not only to her own inner life but also to what is fragile and transient in all our lives. This poet knows how illness and fear can seep into the everyday. And it is exactly this awareness that breathes life into every word of Mouthbrooders . -Cortney Davis, author of Taking Care of Time