Spinning the Stone

Birth and death, history and geology braid through Jana Bouma's debut poetry collection. These poems dive into the body's depths-the lungs with their "alveoli, clustered chambers/trussed in nets of blood"-and move outward through rivers and continents to address "the desiccated emptiness between the stars." The poems' lyrical language interrogates the mystery of ancient stones, the elemental experiences of childbirth and motherhood, and the tenderness of grief. Within this collection, as in life, pleasure intertwines with suffering, and human experience is closely bound to the timeless cycles of the ancient planet we call home.