The Near and Distant World: Poems

by Bianca Stone

A vivid, enthralling new collection of poems from the Vermont Poet Laureate and award-winning author of What is Otherwise Infinite, The Möbius Strip Club of Grief, and Someone Else’s Wedding Vows

In her latest, brilliant collection, Bianca Stone continues to explore and interrogate the full spectrum of life, from an unexpectedly intimate conversation with an internet technician in Brooklyn, to a deep dive into Greek mythology, psychoanalysis, and modern philosophy. “I am thinking of what it means to be alive in this world,” Stone muses, “I want to get it not right but near.” With her signature incisive perspective, Stone debates the paradoxes of finding one’s own self amid parenthood, global change, and the constant press of mortality. 

In these fifty-one poems, Stone seamlessly ties together allusions to Jordan Peele’s Nope, Rilke’s elegies, and other cultural touchstones to arrive at new revelations. With fluidity and wryness, she brings readers to the brink of psychic wounds, operatic dramas, and strange dreams, with a fresh narrative in the rich mytho-poetic tradition.

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 13, 2026

About the author

Bianca Stone is a writer and visual artist. She was born and raised in Vermont and moved to New York City where she received her MFA from NYU in 2009. Her poems, poetry comics, and nonfiction have appeared in a variety of magazines including The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, American Poetry Review and many others.

She has returned to Vermont with her husband and collaborator, the poet Ben Pease, where she is director of programs for The Ruth Stone House, a literary nonprofit artist residency, letterpress studio and community poetry center.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I, too, am deeply distracted by the question of existing and then also of having meaning. These works are so big and small at the same time, which I think is one of my favorite feelings when reading poetry. I want a universal truth that makes me feel part of something, and at the same time deeply alone. I get to pick which I feel at any given moment. This collection has a lot of new favorites and I'm happy this was my introduction to Bianca Stone.

Thanks for the ARC

[Joshua Winn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It was hard to read at some points when it was about philosophy and religion or paintings. But I find that these topics are what makes poetry interesting. You can read a single line and find 5 different meanings from it. Even when I didn't understand the meaning of the biblical texts or paintings, I understood the tone and what it meant for myself.

Great text to analyze if studying poetry!

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things that don’t usually work for me (references to philosophy/philosophers, writing about being a poet/academic) somehow work well here. The voice in these poems is a good analyst of both classic lit and everyday yearnings and inconveniences. I was a little thrown by the casual lines admitting thoughts of suicide, but these are not really what we think of as confessional poems. In fact, so many lines repeat across poems that they blend. After reading I don’t have many memories of discrete pieces, but I really like the voice, which hits some fantastic lines. Other lines feel a little too wandering, but when we get images they are sharp.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit that much of The Near and Distant World went over my head. Bianca Stone's writing is undeniably lyrical, and there were several individual lines that resonated with me. For the most part, though, I felt lost. As an avid reader of poetry, I typically don't mind the "not knowing"; I can allow myself to get swept up in the language. But too much of this collection included specific references to literature, art, philosophy, etc. that were lost on me, and this impacted my overall reading experience.

Thank you to Tin House and NetGalley for my advanced copy.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two apple trees in my yard and I am thinking of what it means to be alive in this world, the pleasures of secrecy living among the florae.
…
But give me a poem, I ask my daughter. Her pause like a river: wide, fresh and coppery off the mountain. the trees are flying to the poetry!, she says at last, and rushes on.

Stone is the granddaughter of Ruth Stone, and I felt these poems had such a distinctly New England feel to them, which is where I was born and I have brought that feel with me along my way to becoming a Coloradoan. Really wonderful poems that made me catch my breath.

BELIEF
The briar patch where I was born is flowering.
A stone path leads to the brook.
Hummingbirds find the greensward’s stargazer lilies,
their sepals open like the intimate eye of new belief.
Yes. I would. If I died today.
I would repeat this life.

THE COLOR OF WHAT FADES
Fall staggered on, beautiful and stung from battle. I strode with it, among the dried lace sleeves on the withered arms of goldenrod, the wrecked husks of milkweed pods, their purses pulled inside out, their gossamer silk tassels with flat brown seeds on the end snagged on the velvety green barbs of the pod’s lip—and I studied it all, the color of what fades, the used-up lust.

OLD BIO IN SNOW
There’s always a snowstorm coming and I’m always booked at a café on the other side of the mountain driving on bald tires to give another lecture on Hegel’s vision of the infinite whole and at the last minute deciding to lecture on wind, and snow, and the effects on discarded newspapers.
…
And if they introduce me with an old bio so be it. No need to mention the latest gummy linguistic situation in words, or my recent award for lying on the rug and staring at the lacy vacant spiderwebs in the petticoats of a glass cupboard—no, forget the laurels. What matters tonight is Time and blizzards and saving on your next purchase
with a coupon from your unconscious.
…
Now, snow. That form of water which haunts. It follows you indoors in obedience to air until it feels fire, then it looks for a place to lie down with fire, to then elope with earth, to move slowly to the sea. I just thought I knew something and light was pouring through me onto the floor— but everything shifts,

And everywhere there is a white soil coming, carried sideways by wind, and down by gravity, a pale inflection on its many cold lips. And it doesn’t need to know where it came from to know it is part of the whole and it is snow, and it falls on your face and ends.

WHAT IS THE BIOLOGICAL FUNCTION OF WORDS?

Why are they a river with no beginning or end What are words to dancing? Which is said to be indicative of feeling happy, playful, and free.

It’s normal to hate words. And phrases, like He lost the battle against depression, and Let me be perfectly clear—and yet they come, my god they come to us like sunlight, reflecting off volcanoes on the moon, they come to us like rage, and love, and disencumbered, they avail.

UNDERWATER CANDLE
I dreamed the words underwater candle. For we are the golden ass searching in the dark for a rose to transform us back and it takes time searching the world

Human beings if we should die and return into the ordinary pain of the autobiographical would we be okay—would we exalt in joy at knowing

we would do it all exactly the same? Do I live like that? As if I would repeat this life?

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Belief

The briar patch where I was born is flowering.
A stone path leads to the brook.
Hummingbirds find the greensward’s stargazer lilies,
their sepals open like the intimate eye of belief.

Yes, I would.
I would repeat this life.

I loved the unexpected imagery in these poems. An overcoat flapping open like a hospital gown. Fall “staggering on”, as if “beautiful and stung from battle.” Being “run through by feeling as if by a bayonet.” The references to Greek myths, poets, artists, music, philosophers.

What’s Poetry Like describes a young man asking about a book of poetry, what poetry was like, something that can’t be explained. So, she gives him the book, later imagining the book “waiting to be opened, waiting to torment him, thinking of it changing his life.” And, of course, poetry has that ability to change your life.

The Translation Elegies references Rilke, attempting “to articulate the question of why the innocent suffer, why we cannot gain our innocence back.”

Thoughts at the Grave considers Rodin: “Even Rodin must have sensed it. How when a face emerged out of nothing in his obsessive work, that what was hidden was lost in the stone, once it was carved into something.”

Civilization and Its Discontents caught me: I have two apple trees and wasps on the group. I adopted a dog no one wanted. I used to blow bubbles for our son to chase. The poem shifts to the recollection of a line written a decade ago. “When you write you try and make sure it’s ready before you serve it”, she writes, “I want to get it not right but near.” Near is all we can expect, anyway, as we put feelings into words. But near is more than good enough.

There are disturbing questions asked, the “death instinct” desiring to return “to the old state of things, the first stoney lifeless form we held, how we live merely a circuitous path towards inertia,” the “letting go.”

But in Belief, the startling acceptance of life’s beauty is enough to affirm, “I would repeat this life.”

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

[Karrie Seibel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't a poetry collection you fly through—it's one you sit with.

The Near and Distant World feels like wandering through someone's thoughts at 2 a.m., where philosophy, memory, grief, mythology, and everyday life all blur together. Some poems are incredibly grounding, while others drift into abstract territory that left me rereading lines to see if I had missed something.

There's a quiet dystopian feeling running beneath many of the poems. Not a world that's fallen apart in dramatic fashion, but one where people are trying to make sense of existence while carrying the weight of mortality, loneliness, and uncertainty. It's reflective, unsettling, and occasionally brushes against the macabre without becoming horror. Instead, it asks uncomfortable questions about what it means to be alive and how we continue moving forward despite knowing everything is temporary.

I appreciated Stone's imagery the most. Even when I wasn't completely following every philosophical reference or literary allusion, individual lines would stop me in my tracks. Those moments made the collection worth reading. At the same time, I don't think every poem will resonate with every reader. Some felt intentionally distant, almost like I was looking through frosted glass, admiring the shapes without fully reaching them.

If you prefer straightforward or emotionally direct poetry, this collection may feel a little too cerebral. But if you enjoy poetry that invites interpretation, rewards rereads, and isn't afraid to linger in life's darker questions, there's a lot to appreciate here.

It's the kind of collection that doesn't hand you answers—it simply sits beside you while you wrestle with the questions.

[T. C. C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this volume of poetry unbecoming for a State Poet Laureate, and I could not help but wonder if the jury of officials who presented Stone with such a title and honor were having any remorse about it after reading this published work.

Melodramatic; defensively narcissistic; a terrible and desperate plea for attention. Any young poet who feels it necessary to announce multiple times that they are contemplating suicide is obviously too immature to have a major publication released much less be allowed to represent an artistic profession in a role that includes introducing young students to the benefits and joys of writing—it's just irresponsible. Please find some help, Ms. Stone.

And WTF, Tin House Publishing... Did no one in editing read this manuscript as a whole before shoving it out into the public? Did no one notice that the poem "In Shadow, Who Made These Words" is a later modified version of both "Unsent Letter" as well as "Know Thy Other"? Was the blatant repetition of words and verse not a clue? Did no one in editing bother to track or investigate the earlier published versions of Stone's poems in other literary publications? Compare them? Read them in context etymologically? ...Shoddy work, mates, to have just cast off your editorial responsibilities like that.

Apparently I am an outlier in my criticism of this collection (based on rating scores from other readers). Readers should determine for themselves, but I, unfortunately, am unable to recommend this particular volume of poetry.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vermont Poet Laureate Bianca Stone strikes a tonal mix of seriousness and wit in her newest collection. Stone blends everyday encounters with myth/psyche and an ethos that is near/distant, seeking "to get it not right but near" right. Of the 51 poems, my favorites are:
-"Old Bio in Snow," a snowy, peripatetic ars poetica: driving, lecturing, doubling back—using weather, philosophy, and repetition to think about how a life “lectures” itself and rewrites the past. 
-"What’s Poetry Like?", a meta-poem that stages poetry’s strange usefulness through a chance encounter between a young, apprentice IT guy and the poet.
-"Memory Palace," which refers to the mnemonic “rooms” of mind—how stored images, griefs, and selves are arranged, reopened, and re-narrated
-"Thoughts at the Grave," an elegiac poem that lends the collection its title with the line: "Even the near world is distant."
-"Black Sunflower," a mind-in-bloom image—a dark sunflower turning toward its source of light/darkness—suggesting language’s absences as the very conditions of attention and desire.
-"Liriope's Poem," which frames the Narcissus story through Liriope (his mother)—the maternal “near” set against a child’s “distant” fate.

[Thanks to Zando Projects | Tin House and NetGalley for an opportunity to read and share my opinion of this book.]

[Jax · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If you want to know anything
consider the distance between you
and the dying of things.”

Poet Laureate and award winning novelist Bianca Stone’s collection examines, as she describes it, what it means to be alive in this world, the innate paradoxes of the human soul. A human— carbon and gases—with an immaterial counterpart, the soul. We are condemned to this dualism at birth, she says, like a prison sentence. As the late Ernest Becker put it of humankind: “This is the paradox: he is out of nature and hopelessly in it; he is dual, up in the stars and yet housed in a heart-pumping, breath-gasping body.”

For me, Becker’s bad news, if you call it that, is more approachable than Stone’s. His is an intellectual exercise. Something we can examine, poke, prod, then consider his solution as workable if we chose to undertake the effort. Our hearts aren’t touched, so surely we’ll move on and forget about it. Poets won’t let us off that easily. They will use their mastery of words to skewer us. Stone does just that.

“One life, this one life—it is all so near distant. I abandoned. I held. I returned. I heard the waves. And hearing the waves, I dreamed back the world.”

Thank you to Zando | Tin House and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

[Sacha · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

This is my first experience with Stone's poetry, and it was a pleasant one.

I really enjoyed the variety of motifs and perspectives here, though I think that for a modern collection, the choices in form and subject matter are not necessarily as accessible as I prefer these days. Frequently, when I'm reading new-to-me poems, I'm looking for teachable content, and that's here, but it's the kind of material that (college) students would need GUIDANCE for in many cases rather than be able to approach successfully on their own. This is not to say that a less student-friendly collection isn't good or that I didn't enjoy it; the reverse is true, but these details also shape how I'm reading and considering overall. I'm a fan of transparency.

For my own part, I appreciated having to work at these in some cases, and I have no doubt that adventurous and adept readers will also find a lot to ponder here.

I appreciate the opportunity to engage with this work and look forward to reading more from Stone.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Tiffani Ren at Tin House for this widget, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

[Alicia (PrettyBrownEyeReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Even the near world is distant”

This poetry collection from Vermont’s Poet Laureate, Bianca Stone is perfectly titled. The poems in this collection are near but yet distant. They are relatable but yet philosophical. After reading a poem, I would be awed by the poet’s phrasing, use of repetition, imagery or other poetic devices but then I would be struck by the deeper meaning of the poem.

Bianca Stone explores a variety of topics in the poems: spirituality, history, philosophy, nature. One of the most compelling topics is the self. In exploring the internal conflicts of the self, suicide is mentioned a few times in the collection. Readers who are sensitive to that subject should take care in reading this collection.

Because of the complex nature of the poems in this collection, this would make a good discussion piece for literature classes or book clubs wanting to explore poetry.

I was sent an electronic advanced readers copy of this book by the publisher, Tin House via Netgalley.

[Luis A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Near and Distant World," by Bianca Stone, is a book of poems that starts with the poem "OLD BIO IN SNOW." it talks about giving lectures, being happy and goes on to touch on other things that are of interest to read. One thing one can see as the presence of snow, the cold, the wet in many of the poems. There are other poems: "THEORY," "WHAT'S POETRY LIKE," MEMORY PALACE," with a language that one could see as philosophical with a prose-like flavor that are of some considerable length where poetry is no so much the issue by what the writing tells or discusses.
One notice the presence of snow, the cold, wintry conditions playing a role in many poems. These poems should not be rushed. They call for careful reading; do not look for pretty phrases or poetic music. Themes are handled mainly in prose-like diction that has philosophical tendencies; yes, it can be seen that way. A book not of poetic verses, but one that could be of interest to those who like to read about thing they would not see or think of otherwise.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this collection, the poet bears the weight of each word like a heavy earthen vessel. The poems seem to fall onto the page from a great height, shattering into meaning. Then the knock, the knockings—and all The Who’s that claim to be there. Somewhere among the shards is a troubled and bodiless mind.

“You must spend as long as it takes
to bear a single word beside another word.”
—from “Analysand,” p. 19

“In the beginning was a word.
Then it needed two people to think about it.”
—from “Sound in a Dream,” p. 18

“Let my only work be this,
to stare back
into the blue iris of the sky.”
—“In Shadow, Who Made These Words, , p. 41

“imagine it: to keep going

as if I had only one intention.
And it was to be

exactly who I am
for the rest of my life.”
—from “The Ship,” p. 96


Favorite Poems:
“The Translation Elegies”
“Thoughts at the Grave”
“Sound in a Dream”
“In Shadow, Who Made These Words”
“Liriope’s Poem”
“What Is the Biological Function of Words?”
“The Circuitous Path Toward Inertia”
“On the Nature of Things”

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bianca Stone is the poet laureate of Vermont, and with good reason. Her poems are dense with meaning. I found myself reading and re-reading poems several times to glean their full flavor from the bones of words. Stones weaves the disparate threads of religion, mythology, mortality, psychoanalysis, motherhood, self-love and self-hate juxtaposed, together to create an embroidery overlaid upon the rich, green background of Vermont itself.
In her poem Ovid, she writes, “Unwittingly, this work perceives how desire changes and suspends things.” This could also be said of this collection of gorgeous poems.
These 51 poems tackle the absurdity of the mundane and celebrate the beauty of the minutia of our everyday world. The poet drags the reader along on a tour de force bent on discovery – of the self, of the other, of both the near and distant world.
 

[mixedreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I hover in the indexes, the footnotes” (from the poem “Theory”). The Near and Distant World by Bianca Stone is a collection that had a surprising comforting effect on me. It forced my overactive, academic brain to slow down, and while still being engaged in the meta of it all, think about thinking. This collection feels like it’s for the doctoral students pulling their rounded necks out of the current book stack for a break. It’s for any reader who likes to witness the the unraveling of the mind, the windy path of the philosophical. And I’m not necessarily a philosophy reader. Stone keeps much of this prose very direct. But subject matter, from theory to mythology to civilization, asks the reader to have an investment in ontology, to have questions about the “why” of our existence.

[Mariah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Bianca Stone's, The Near and Distant World, collection of poems.

This narrative is not for the weak of heart, Stone's text is heavy and rich with philosophical/literary references. More than that, the writing feels like a Florence + the Machine song, wherein the writer uses her writing as a muse - communicating depressive episodes and philosophical meanderings. Stone's writing stopped me in my tracks as she noted, "I was eating my croissant at a discreet window/and felt for the first time/blameless for being born and contemplating suicide." Stone's writings are powerful, delivering heavy topics like delicate lace.

[K Rejsek · Rating 5 out of 5]

"something with lungs / and no face, the immortal freak / of language you haunt and hunt."

This collection has gravity, the existentialism is balanced by allusion and ekphrasis, by conversation with Rilke and all of the other terrifying angels of the world. I think it's ambitious to question mortality without getting too caught in the darkness, but Stone teeters skillfully at the edge, never relying on sentimentality or ego. What is questioned is also informed. Tears and laughter blur together. The threads connect but require a revisit. A good read for the dark of winter.

Thank you Zando for the galley!

[Wendy Wisner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read Bianca Stone’s poems before, but I had never read a full length book of hers. I was totally transported by the poems in this book, and by the book as a whole. You never know where the poems are going to go and yet they feel inevitable and authentic. You trust the poems and they take your breath away. Stone weaves in mythology, dreams, psychology, parenthood, depression, and real questions of mortality–so seamlessly and in a voice that is wholly her own.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book.

[sarah panic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first introduction to Bianca Stone's poetry and I am left awestruck and scrambling for more. I feel a bit of a hunger for more of the words they were able to craft together. The musings about life and the duality and complexity of not only reality, but parenthood hit home for me and I felt a certain kind of closeness to the writing.

Thank you as always to Tinhouse Publishing / Zando Projects for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving this review.

[Rhiley Jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for the E-ARC! This E-ARC was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.

Oh, to be a strange and beautifully written poetry collection. The whimsical and weird side of poetry and prose will always splay my heart open. Will always fit right in alongside my favorite poets, even if it isn't a favorite collection. This one was not a favorite collection but wow oh wow, the drama. The substance. The joy of feeling understood and seen through the weird, wonderful side of prose that most people will never truly comprehend.
Stunning.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bianca Stone's The Near and Distant World is broken into three sections, and while they don't have a distinct tile other than their numerical order, each section feels like an evolution.

I didn't connect very well with the first section; it felt flat to me. I tend to favor poetry that's more lyrical and cerebral, but Stone's style is decidedly more direct. The second section dabbles into some prose (or at least some prose-leaning poetry), and this was more enjoyable for me. Section three felt somewhat more explorative, but I don't think Stone's style works well for me overall.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

[Ric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Equal parts humor, grief, and existential crisis, Bianca Stone has once again crafted a spectacular collection that feels haunted by its own ghosts. Small threads of Rilke, Oliver, the bible and ancient Greece weave themselves into and through each of these pieces, lending their spectral presence to a modern-day monotony: "I come back/ an antichrist in June/ standing in the yard/ with my haunted weedwhacker." Fans of Stone's previous collections will not be disappointed, and new readers will find themselves knee-deep in some of the best work by one of our finest contemporary poets.

[Caity · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - The collection of poems was well written, but only about half resonated with me. It was a bit easy to disconnect from the other half, and diminished the overall collection for me. Those that did stand out to me were some of the longer ones that seemed to cross from modern day philosophical pondering to reflection inspired by Ancient Greeks and their epic heroes, gods, and goddesses.

[Julia Bucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I speak to you now, old lying mind,
in all these short nightmares Valéry called language.
I speak to you
who hide, veiled among the image fires
in a body with hair growing gray upon it,

a hand, writing of its hand--I speak from the body,
which hides a child, who is nothing."
--"On the Nature of Things"

[McKaley Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think i’m not the target audience for this. I didn’t understand a lot of the references and honestly, I don’t love to read poetry about the act of writing. my favorite poem was translation elegies!

[Chris]

With many of these poems I miss the “big picture”, what the whole poem is about. There are lines, though, in each, that are beautiful , or poignant. They invite repeated readings. A book to spend time with.

[Jared Wahlgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good! Strong Gluck vibes with the mythology. A great glimpse into a poet’s world: Stone’s inadequacies and her relationship with her husband. Really impressed with the variety in form, long poems, long lines, short fragments. Will probably return to collection to find more cohesiveness.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slim volume of lyrical poetry. I had it on my nightstand and read a few pages each night.

[Danielle Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Yes. I would. / I would repeat this life."
A stunning and powerful collection. These are poems to savor, full of imagery I'm still thinking of, days later.