To Find A River | Anna Citrino

At first glance, Anna Citrino’s new chapbook could seem to revolve around the question: “What is it to be a woman.” However, her poems contain more universal themes from generosity and jealousy to humanities brilliance, such as in the poem: At the Galleria Borghese, Bernini’s Vision: “…This isn’t a about perfection. /It’s about how dreams run across the earth/like gods. Once a man carved and turned them/ into life. To see them is to find a name for light. “ Through her luminous poems, Citrino’s work takes us through ancient stories like that of Sarah and Abraham, to personal ones about her mother, to universal ones about caves where our mutual ancestors came from, touching the hand of the creator. Her travels have captured small and magnificent moments of women being nurturers, like in “Stuffed” to the questions of fertility, or of her complex maternal relationship in the line, “…I am the small pebble in her palm.” To Find a River, is a jewel that takes us on a journey of the self, fin