Voice Message

More about the book

In her debut collection, Katherine Barrett Swett's poems reflect on personal tragedy and the fragility of human existence with tender care. The work explores how art and poetry can aid in processing catastrophic grief, revealing both the solace and devastation these creative expressions can provide. Swett's formal verse presents sadness, destruction, and loss as both aberrant and inevitable. In her tragic lyricism, she searches through poetry, art, mythology, and memory for fleeting images of her lost daughter, seeking her presence "in music, painting, or a carved stone name." Drawing inspiration from visual arts, she finds guidance in Vermeer's paintings of distant rooms, which contextualize her pain and offer motivation, comfort, and release. Through diverse forms like villanelles, sonnets, quatrains, and free verse, Swett invokes haunting voices and narratives, both personal and cultural. In the aftermath of her daughter's unexpected death, her language embodies a somber restraint that does not signify closure. Instead, the poems remind readers of the persistent "open wound / not the scar," emphasizing our vulnerability and the enduring power of words and flesh. The rhythms and echoes of her verses lead us through the complex intersections of tragedy, recovery, and unexpected beauty.