Rose Solari Reviews Four Poetry Collections Dealing with Grief

This month, Rose Solari's column for the Washington Independent Review of Books looks at three shining new collections from new and established poets, as well as the best of Jane Kenyon. Each collection, in a way, deals with grief (from her review):

"Grief is a perennial subject for poets, and for good reason: In making art out of our losses, we not only memorialize our dead but can, with luck and skill, sing or speak our way into healing. Four new collections by women poets all revolve, in one way or another, around grief and its aftermath. Each offers poetry of exploration, catharsis, and even consolation."

The four collections reviewed this month are:

Allison Benis White's The Wendys (from the fantastic independent press, Four Way Books)

Jil Bialosky's Asylum: A Personal, Historic, Natural Inquiry in 103 Lyric Sections

Lesley Wheeler's The State She's In (from another wonderful small press, Tinderbox Editions)

Poet Jane Kenyon and editor Donald Hall's The Best Poems of Jane Kenyon (from Graywolf)

Check out Rose Solari's live show "Rose Reads" every Wednesday at 4pm EDT on her Facebook Page.