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Another Life
Another Life is a collection of poems that circle motherhood and all it entails, its hopes and its horrors. It’s about the life chosen and the life left unlived. Frances Klein takes the reader on a journey through both the pain and the pleasure in the paths followed. Each poem carries the reader a little further forward but doesn’t stop them from looking back and wondering "What if?" These poems explore memory and history and future and dreams, they delve into desire in all its forms and ask questions that linger long after you’ve read them. Another Life allows the reader to wonder at all that could have been while remaining grateful for all that is.
***
In Another Life, Frances Klein reminds us that “being alive on this planet / means acknowledging that all things / were once something else.” The world that she builds in these poems will speak to any woman who has experienced the cyclical longing, vulnerability & grief of infertility, miscarriage & motherhood. With precision & honesty, Frances invites us into these experiences which feel both personal & universal–& ultimately, infinitely human.
~ Joan Kwon Glass, author of Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms
In Another Life, Frances Klein's poems wander through landscapes of loss with a sharp humor and a keen love for the world, a world where “by no means should the poem simply end/by refusing to change its bra/and taking the whole sleeve/of Oreos to bed,/but it will anyway.” Klein navigates pregnancy loss and motherhood with tender frankness in poems where “Negative pregnancy tests clutter the bin/and suddenly the internet is a minefield” and mother and son are “an unspeakable assemblage of limbs, something that cannot be/solitary.” Formally inventive with multiple golden shovels and erasures referencing literature and pop culture, Another Life shines, reminding us that “What we have built here is spiderweb fragile,/the wind plucking each tethering thread.”
~ Donna Vorreyer, author of To Everything There Is
In Another Life, Klein cleverly examines the American mundane toil—the alienation that is contemporary woman/motherhood—all with a precision of language, line and form, and a charming voice and aesthetic. Klein’s poetic vision and existential observations helps reexamine the oftentimes dreary American domestic landscape. I highly recommend this poignant, exquisite collection, not only for its intelligence but its humanity as well.
~ Jose Hernandez Diaz, author of Bad Mexican, Bad Mexican
***
In Another Life, Frances Klein reminds us that “being alive on this planet / means acknowledging that all things / were once something else.” The world that she builds in these poems will speak to any woman who has experienced the cyclical longing, vulnerability & grief of infertility, miscarriage & motherhood. With precision & honesty, Frances invites us into these experiences which feel both personal & universal–& ultimately, infinitely human.
~ Joan Kwon Glass, author of Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms
In Another Life, Frances Klein's poems wander through landscapes of loss with a sharp humor and a keen love for the world, a world where “by no means should the poem simply end/by refusing to change its bra/and taking the whole sleeve/of Oreos to bed,/but it will anyway.” Klein navigates pregnancy loss and motherhood with tender frankness in poems where “Negative pregnancy tests clutter the bin/and suddenly the internet is a minefield” and mother and son are “an unspeakable assemblage of limbs, something that cannot be/solitary.” Formally inventive with multiple golden shovels and erasures referencing literature and pop culture, Another Life shines, reminding us that “What we have built here is spiderweb fragile,/the wind plucking each tethering thread.”
~ Donna Vorreyer, author of To Everything There Is
In Another Life, Klein cleverly examines the American mundane toil—the alienation that is contemporary woman/motherhood—all with a precision of language, line and form, and a charming voice and aesthetic. Klein’s poetic vision and existential observations helps reexamine the oftentimes dreary American domestic landscape. I highly recommend this poignant, exquisite collection, not only for its intelligence but its humanity as well.
~ Jose Hernandez Diaz, author of Bad Mexican, Bad Mexican
- GenresPoetry
102 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 17, 2024
A stunning debut collection of poems about motherhood, fertility, grief, loss, and hope. Frances Klein pulls the reader in and her strong voice and use of pop culture, carries the reader through this brilliant collection.
from Venmo Request for Therapy Money from the Boy Who Called Me an "8" in his MySpace Hotness Rankings: "For the way countless men and women worked long hours / missing golden anniversaries and oboe solos with only one wrong note / to string together the ones and zeros of the world wide web / for our education and enlightenment"
from if i do not complete the thought you will never: "the fever torching the forests of your cheeks will not // thick smoke replacing the air in each room of the house until // tornado whipping away the roof, debris closing us in with no"
from Prayer for the Dudes Who Catcalled Me in Front of My Toddler: "I pray you get your heart broken by a mediocre white girl / while your favorite song is playing. / The joy the notes once conjured dissipates / like her cucumber melon body mist."
This book is so very, very good. Highly recommend.
from Venmo Request for Therapy Money from the Boy Who Called Me an "8" in his MySpace Hotness Rankings: "For the way countless men and women worked long hours / missing golden anniversaries and oboe solos with only one wrong note / to string together the ones and zeros of the world wide web / for our education and enlightenment"
from if i do not complete the thought you will never: "the fever torching the forests of your cheeks will not // thick smoke replacing the air in each room of the house until // tornado whipping away the roof, debris closing us in with no"
from Prayer for the Dudes Who Catcalled Me in Front of My Toddler: "I pray you get your heart broken by a mediocre white girl / while your favorite song is playing. / The joy the notes once conjured dissipates / like her cucumber melon body mist."
This book is so very, very good. Highly recommend.
November 16, 2025
wrecked me, healed me
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews