Thornwork

by Ruth Baumann

Poetry. "'I know as much as I know,' Baumann writes, 'and still get out of bed.' And what trauma survivor has not marveled at this exact triumph? THORNWORK is a rigorous examination of the abundant hunger of both body and psyche to survive. This generous work confronts our 'We have tried you, language, but you have not been enough,' and nurtures even our most imperceptible 'I have almost enough courage to keep walking myself home,' offering a realistic portrait of the untidy endeavor to persevere."--Jeanann Verlee "THORNWORK sings to the soft sleeping animal at the center of us all, and shows us that to love wrongly is still to love. It's a eulogy for the former self, a prayer, a ghost story. This is an urgent, spell-binding book." --Meg Freitag "Ruth Baumann's THORNBROOK is painted with vertiginous desires, 'I wake up how a thief wakes up, one want at a time.' These poems explore what happens when we harm for or are harmed by that which we desire--'god is not a pitcher plant / It's us humans that eat each other.' Baumann leads us into a world that is both familiar and foggy, both lonely and suffocating, a world where 'Life fidgets everywhere.' It isn't Baumann's job to lead us back out--she is here to tell us what's at stake, she is here to show us the 'new angles.' Come in and have a look around. 'Make a sudden noise. See which animals in us come out.'"--Paige Lewis

Genres: Poetry

66 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many lightning bolt lines and epiphanies.

[William Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent work by Ruth Baumann. This book is well crafted with a nice variety of style and form. Baumann has a way of just stunning you with imagery. There are some heavy poems in here.