The Trouble With Being a Childless Only Child
Written after the unexpected death of her mother, The Trouble With Being a Childless Only Child takes root in the body, exploring loss and trauma along with the sexual and social dynamics of one woman’s place among men. Part epistolary and part memoir, Meyer questions her own role in creating the boundaries that defined her mother’s life while reaching, often in vain, for clarity through the fog of loss. Serving as both tribute and penance, each poem is a funeral song versed with longing, and ultimately hope, for spiritual release.
Praise for The Trouble With Being A Childless Only Child :
“A richly rewarding book, one about healing and redemption, a book sutured with forgiveness and bound in love.”
~Robert Hedin, author of At the Great Door of Morning
“By turns delicate, brutal, bitterly funny, and haunting, these poems capture the evolving ways that loss and love intertwine.”
~Jacqueline West, author of Candle and Pins
“While there is grief in this collection, there is a clarity and acceptance in words that are wise and earned.”
~Mary Logue, author of Heart Wood: Poems
“These poems are painful dirges and celebratory wakes... sometimes both at once. This book is so good, with such mature vision and
no-nonsense voice, I want to see her next book right now.”
~John Graber, author of Thanksgiving Dawn
“Effective...effortless...impossible for any reader for forget.”
~Emma Snyder, editor-in-chief of Tabula Rasa Review
Illuminated by the insight and life experience of poet Michelle Meyer, The Book of She brilliantly expresses feelings of hope, love, loss, regret, triumph, rage, humor, and perhaps most importantly those moments that teeter on the precipice of choice.
cover art by Sarah Kiser
www.artbysarahkiser.com
“The Book of She speaks with many voices, all of them infused with poet Michelle Meyer’s wit, clarity, and compassion. As you meet each new “she” in its pages, you’ll realize that you already know her, or that you want to know her, or you’ll recognize her as a part of yourself. A big-hearted beauty of a collection.”
-Jacqueline West, New York Times bestselling author and award-winning poet
“Michelle Meyer hones the sharp edges of her observations about the human condition with a pleasing wit.”
-Lu Lippold, editor, producer
“Poems come out of wonder, not out of knowing.”
Lucille Clifton
