Whether she is writing about the loss of her breast, or the loss of a friend, about the pleasure of time with her grandchildren or the passion of making love to her husband, Susan Downe writes with a surety of voice that comes from looking at the world and words with a gracious honesty. These spare and graceful poems are love stories; even the title sequence, about Downe's struggle with breast cancer, is a loving celebration of the beauty, the fullness, the irrefutable blessing of being alive.
Little Horse
has hitched itself
to the inside
of my skin, slip-
knitted to my nipple:
who would have guessed
its umbilical
genius ? it means
to gallop far
and fast
and has tethered itself
to a mothering place.
These poems are full of feeling but not in the least sentimental. They confront breast cancer and stare it down more lyrically than one would have imagined possible. This is a fine first book. --Maxine Kumin
