Bone Map: Poems

by Sara Eliza Johnson, Martha Collins (Introduction)

Selected for the National Poetry Series by Martha Collins, Sara Eliza Johnson’s stunning, deeply visceral first collection pulls shards of tenderness from a world on the verge of collapse.

Here violence and terror infuse the body, the landscape, and dreams: a handful of blackberries offered from bloodied arms, bee stings likened to pulses of sunlight, a honeycomb of marrow exposed. “All moments will shine if you cut them open. / Will glisten like entrails in the sun.” With figurative language that makes long, associative leaps, and with metaphors and images that continually resurrect themselves across poems, Bone Map builds and transforms its world through a locomotive echo—a regenerative force—that comes to parallel the psychic quest for redemption that unfolds in its second half. The result is a deeply affecting composition that establishes Sara Eliza Johnson as a vital new voice in American poetry.

Genres: Poetry, The United States Of America, 21st Century, Womens, Literary Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2014

About the author

Sara Eliza Johnson's first book, Bone Map (Milkweed Editions, 2014), was selected for the 2013 National Poetry Series. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Virginia Quarterly Review, Blackbird, DIAGRAM, Copper Nickel, Boston Review, Ninth Letter, New England Review, Best New Poets 2009, Crab Orchard Review, Pleiades, Meridian, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in poetry, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award, a Winter Fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, a scholarship to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and an Academy of American Poets Prize from the University of Utah, where she was a Vice Presidential Fellow in Poetry. She teaches at the University of Alaska--Fairbanks.

Reviews

[Carey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sealey Challenge 2024: 7/31

**4.5 rounded up**

I just happened to find this collection randomly through my local library, and what a delightful surprise it was! The first half of this collection essentially examines the violent nature of life: how we live and die, how fear is a strong motivator, and how animals and humans are more alike than we think. The tone in the first half reminded me almost of the Brothers Grimm - and by the use of German and hints at some well-known fairytales I have to wonder if the dark German fairytale aesthetic was an intentional choice here! The second half of the collection shifts tone and shows how life can also be hopeful and there's always time to redeem oneself. I found it interesting how the poet reimagines biblical parables and stories of saints to present a more well-rounded - or sometimes new - approach to some familiar stories. It was a nice blend of narratives that worked well with the poet's stylistic prose! There were quite a few favorites in this collection and it's one I would definitely read again to re-examine and to re-visit some of the poems that I struggled to fully digest.

[Alix · Rating 4 out of 5]

(good, god! the imagery!!!)

how dark it was inside the wolf,
which had begun as a clump
of darkness inside another wolf.
then the child climbed out of its belly
shining, without a name --
with only a red cap by which to call her
and the animal guts in her hands.

favorite poems:
- as the sickle moon guts a cloud
- märchen
- frühlingstraum
- parable of the flood
- when there is burning instead
- pathfinder
- archipelago: island of sheep
- letter from the ice field, december

// unhook your body
from its fear of this vastness,
this dream of the sea
where clouds shift
their bone map,
erase your footsteps
again and again.

[John Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book woke me up. For that I am very grateful.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bone Map is an incredible experience. Using juxtaposition of light and dark, good and bad, love and hate, Sarah shows the blurred unity of these commonplace binaries through the acts of violence being thrust on and committed by her speaker(s). The violence is so often in reference to the body that it feels natural or innate. Polarity allows for the "good" to be interwoven with the "bad," the "real" to be interwoven with the "fantasy," and the "body" to be interwoven with the "text." Bone Map is a shock to the system--a beautiful taboo to be explored and touched.

[Simeon Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sara Eliza Johnson’s debut collection has made something sacramental of the killing floor. Bone Map laminates its interrogatives with a painful, celestial brilliance, asking primal questions of Robinson Jeffers, Ted Hughes, George Herbert, and Saint Francis in its Socratic invocation of anatomy. This book goes beyond the mere molecular weight of the corporeal, transforming a Modernist after-action report into a mystical proscenium where the human animal is primally naked under the erotic radiance of the apocalypse.

[C. Varn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Johnson is a poet of chiaroscuro--the contrasts between nature's beauty and violence, between hardness and vulnerability, between light and dark, consistently mark the themes of this collection. Johnson is a poet of the natural world, but not of romanticized pastoralism, but of inhumanism of wilderness. She has more than a bit of spirit of Robinson Jeffers in her verse, but she is more embodied than Jeffers--human and animal bodies litter the collection: Deer guts, animal skulls, broken human bodies, blood, venison, all rendered with honest but sacramental language. An excellent collection.

[Megan Willoughby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here is nature as she is: a deer's guts glistening in the sun; stump of a freshly cut oak; the forest's endless dance, mystifying maze of brambles. At times, Johnson taps into the violent, ambivalent, & primal truth of nature - a truth I myself am familiar with, growing up on the forest's edge. I said hello to this old friend at the shared crossroads of our experience, then felt myself grasping for more. Johnson's "I" is bland, a transitory, tenuous presence. A hand unsure of its place in this often-surreal, primal landscape. A voice too quiet too claim the forest. I'll shake the hand, and continue on my own way.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is poetry! Sara Eliza Johnson is a great poet. Bone Map is a haunting, metaphoric, beautiful collection. These poems are very cool and startling and they leave a big impact. They run the gamut from forests and nature to wars and humanity. Their genius lies in the perfect marriage of both.

Many of the poems of Bone Map juxtapose the terrible violence and destruction of war with the ferocious beauty of nature. Johnson explores the chain of connections and parallels between the natural world and the lives of humans. These are nature poems at their most compelling: full of interest, variety, scope, and excitement. They can be grisly. She doesn't hold back from the gruesome details. I love the way she writes about animals.

Some of the poems have the feel of a dark fairy tale, which is fitting since the first poem is titled "Fable." Red Riding Hood is referenced in the poem "Märchen." There is a magical, mystical feel throughout Bone Map. A chilling and ghostly mood often permeates the pages. Johnson looks ahead and tells us what will happen far into the future. A prophetic uncanniness is created with this scrying glass of what is to come viewed from the present moment. There are scenes that feel like tableau frozen in a snowglobe and then Johnson pans out to show a panorama.

Johnson's figurative language is stunning. This book possesses such vivid imagery. The language is so visual I could conjure it all in my mind's eye vividly. I love how many of the first lines contain the phrases "in the forest" or "in the woods." It's a cool repeating motif. Many of the poems begin with going somewhere—to the lake, through the woods; often two people together: a recurring, traveling "we."

This book is full of smart decisions, from the titles of the poems, to the order they go in. The poem "Rapture" has a double meaning in the title: the feeling of dogs playing in the snow but also the end of the world. There are some poems where the title is also the first line (a thing that I love). A great title/first line is "As the Sickle Moon Guts a Cloud." What an image! And it's a great poem! This collection has the perfect cover art and design between the covers.

Bone Map contains poems so beautiful you'll feel compelled to reread them. And they're so enjoyable to reread and to savor each line. This is such strong poetry, with an incredible sense of mood, setting, and tone. The world-encompassing scope of Bone Map is dazzling. This is a wholly cohesive collection and Sara Eliza Johnson knows exactly what she's trying to say.

[Laurel Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down the best collection of poetry I have read yet this year. Quite a statement, I know, but let's unpack a bit shall we. I began this collection intrigued by the reviews, the cover, the premise. As I began to read, I was immediately pulled into Johnson's unique language play, use of language of the body, darkness and light, and thematics. I read on and on, often pausing on lines that I had to reread over and over, in wonder of the line, the concept, the adept phrasing, and questioning. Each section of this work that draws on what felt like fairy tale lore, somehow managed to follow the same trail, yet seemed to function separately. I know that this is one collection that I will be drawn back to again and again.

RE: Second read with my creative writing students. Two years later, this is still a killer collection, and it was perfect for teaching, and my students loved it.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My instinct is to pull out people's obsessions, ever since Susannah Nevison pointed out that every poet is obsessed with something. Johnson seems obsessed with: marrow, bones, bees, light (but not necessarily light as a comfort), darkness, dreams, ice/frost, moonlight, milk, rotting apples, viscera, black blood, tongues leading to mouths, disembodied body parts/eyes, skulls housing light or dark, stars on the brink of destruction, horses, mange, rotted air in forests, hunters, God or God's lack, the lack of the everyday, "you" who I assume was a lover lost.

[Salvatore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it again and again!

[Gregory Donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong, clear, deeply engaging poems collected in a well-made book whose individual poems speak to each other and develop into a powerful entirety.

[Karissa Sorrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely, haunting volume of poems.

[Jose Hernandez Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my favorite books. surreal. creative.

can't wait for the next book.

[littleghostelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most important poetry book I've ever read for me, personally. I wish I could thank her directly for writing this and giving me words for things I've never been able to.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

GOD. GOD!!!!!!! GOD!

[hh · Rating 5 out of 5]

the sort of book i want to start again as soon as it ends. 4.5

[Eve Castle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve returned to several poems in this collection over the years. It’s very raw with emotion and imagery that pulls at your core. I try to read poetry out loud and sometimes it’s not possible but I try. I am remiss in waiting so long to do this review. This book was selected for the National Poetry Series by Martha Collins: “this stunning, deeply visceral first collection pulls shards of tenderness from a world on the verge of collapse.”

***

The poem Deer Rub, a set of couplets that set a forest scene with a twist back into life’s realities, has always been my favorite…

<…>
… the tree’s stripped of bark
while someplace in the world

a bomb strips away someone’s skin.
The deer’s mouth is stained with berries

of its own blood. Then the deer is gone
and the tree left opened, the rain darkening
<…>

***

The poem Lesson is a metaphor in its entirety… an apology…

<…>
before turning back home,
carrying in my shirt as many berries
as I could mange,
my feet blistered from my boots,
my arms bleeding from thorns…
Do you understand now?
Please, take and eat these. I’m sorry I hurt you.

***

Sara Eliza Johnson’s 2nd collection, 2022, is called Vapor. Looking forward to getting that one soon. Published through Milkweed Editions.

You can find the author at saraelizajohnson.com.

[Inkdeathinbloom · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 rounded down to 2 after writing this review/reflecting on it further. Here's the thing... this collection had clear and recurring themes - set metaphors anchored in forests, war, light, darkness, tongues, bees, horses, deer, and blood. However, I often felt that the poem got lost in evocative language and ultimately failed to deliver. It felt like I was reading a poem (purposefully constructed, eyes to language and flourish) but not that I was reading poetry. The metaphors often failed to make real meaning, feeling, or reflection, and the language play in and of itself didn't quite make art either. This sounds like a pretty rough condemnation - really it's that this is a personal gripe of mine, like a beautifully decorated cake with no taste, no nutrition. As always though, poetry and art are *highly* subjective, and this is my take - that it sadly/disappointingly missed the mark for me as a collection.

Standouts include 'Archipelago: Ultima Thule', 'When there is Burning Instead', and 'Deer Rub'.

[Anika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw, atmospheric, otherworldly and most certainly one of the best poetry collections I have ever read.

Every poem reads like a story within a story, a photograph, sometimes even a whole film.
All of these poems but especially "How the World Was Made" left me in awe - I won't be able to stop thinking about that poem for a very very long time. Anyone remember that creation sequence from Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life"? It reminded me exactly of that scene, incredibly beautiful and deeply ethereal.

I just finished this book and already want to re-read it. I can't wait to read more from this author.

[Abigail Zimmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sara’s poems are gothic and atmospheric, taking place deep in the woods, on the open water, on ice fields and in archipelagos. They pause to examine the entrails of fallen animals, blood congealing in the night, and of course wherever the light filters through. It took me a while to be anchored in the world (perhaps I should have read it at night?), but I loved the second half especially, a kind of pilgrim’s journey through new territory, uninhabited landscapes amplifying the speaker’s self-searching.

[Van Hinson Rivas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't have any tattoos, have never had the commitment, but every now and then I run across a line from a poem that I want to cherish forever, skin to skin.

Bone Map presented several lines of poetry that I wouldn't mind sharing my body with:

Though I seem tame, I am wild to hold, so hold --

Johnson has crafted something exquisite with Bone Map, describing frozen rivers as "unconscious," the flesh and marrow of a wolf. I confess this collection took me by surprise, but in all the best ways.

[Alyssa Uithoven · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is some beautiful imagery in this book, but I found very little of it to be thought-provoking. “Purgatory” was the only poem that made me pause.

“I shoot it, then cut away the meat,
which I must haul on my back
till it rots,
but never eat. This is the task I must do
again and again as penance
for a world destroyed.”

[Lizette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sé que lo amé. Me encanta cuando un poemario se siente como un mundo cerrado asfixiante. Quizá sea el imaginario de campo, la atmósfera oscura, caballos y crecimientos, árboles y sangre, amor perdido. Versos como ir caminando con chalas por el campo y clavarte esas cuestiones que pinchan (affectionate). Me sentí sentir muy conectada y maravillada.

[melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5. Some poems I read a few times to sit with them ("Deer Rub," "The Last Przewalski's Horse," "When There Is Burning Instead," and "How the World Was Made" for example). But others didn't do it for me.

[Cooch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Four and a half stars

Some excellent poetry here. The themes are brilliantly carried through the poems. There is also an underlying music to most of the poems that gives individual poems, and the work as a whole, flow.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was beautifully designed, but the writing was very repetitive. There are about 3 poems I liked in the collection separate from it.

[Erin Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Visceral, imaginative, haunting. Everything you want in a poetry book.

[emiia · Rating 4 out of 5]

favourites:

rapture
The Last Przewalski’s Horse
the dream of water

[Anja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous writing and imagery. A book I will re-read for many years.