Lapis

by Kerri Webster

A record of visionary experience in the wake of loss

In Lapis , poet Kerri Webster writes into the vast space left by the deaths of three her mother, a mentor, and a friend. Using a wide array of lyric forms and meditations, Webster explores matrilineages both familial and poetic, weaving together death, spirituality, women, and a sense of the shifting earth into one "doctrine of Non-linear Revelation."

Elegy

And I was equal to my
the mums blackening;
sorrow a carboned figurine;
the firmament steaming; your ashes
interred in the boulder;
the ugly birds crying dolor dolor dolor;
the sky smoke-choked―what, then,
would you have had be my register?
As the beasts of the field rub their antlers off
with ooh-itch pleasure; as the screen says
You often open around this time; as the grapes
sometimes
we're the pilgrim, sometimes
we're the site.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2022

About the author

Kerri Webster received her MFA in Creative Writing from Indiana University, where she was a Lilly Fellow. Her work has appeared in such publications as the Antioch Review, Boston Review, Ploughshares, Pleiades, and VOLT. Her chapbook Rowing Through Fog was chosen by Carl Phillips in 2003 for publication by the Poetry Society of America. Her debut collection, We Do Not Eat Our Hearts Alone, was published in 2005 by University of Georgia Press. Her second chapbook, Psalm Project, is forthcoming from Albion Books. She has taught at Boise State University and has served as Visiting Writer-in-Residence at Washington University in St. Louis.

Reviews

[Lyd Havens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audible gasp, hand-to-your-chest brilliant.

[Lex · Rating 5 out of 5]

"And so it came to pass that time was only a tent / we might unzip and crawl out from."

Those are my favorite lines of this sad, wild, and beautiful collection. Definitely worth the read!

[Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kerri Webster and I were in the same writing class at Boise State Univ. about 25 or 30 years ago. Since then she's published 4 books and teaches at Boise State. To quote from the cover; "In Lapis, poet Kerri Webster writes into the vast space left by the deaths of three women: her mother, a mentor, and a friend. Using a wide array of lyric forms and meditations, Webster explores matrilineages both familial and poetic, weaving together death, spirituality, the feminine, and a sense of the shifting earth into one "doctrine of Non-linear Revelation"
I found these poems, many of them untitled, a bit dark and mysterious, but also personal and heart felt. Webster has a great vocabulary and knows how and when to use words. She gives the reader multiple perspectives in a line or two and leaves us contemplating the possibilities.

[Beans · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘If forgiveness is an animal, how many eyes does it have?’ Incredible.