Stealing Mercury

Lori Cayer's poems perform a kind of surgery, exposing the blind, interior terrain of the human body, navigating its hidden "forests and silt deposits," and peeling back the layers of family life until we can see the "glistening knot of bone" beneath. These poems are about risk-takers: a daring boy who climbs the high roof of a church, a young woman who discovers the strength of her desire in a drop of poison mercury, a lover who makes a difficult choice about her sexuality, a daughter who must learn to forgive. The collection culminates in an edgy, powerful sequence about a mother who must let go of her son to let him live his dangerous life on his own dangerous terms. These poems capture the raw essence of physical being, as Cayer explores her themes through the beauty of the body, its hunger, its power, and its terrible vulnerability.