Three, Breathing

By S.A. Stepanek Description Reviews A booklength psalm: spiritual, unpredictable, and gripped by the energy of another time. This singular book transcends time and convention. Stepanek resurrects Whitman and Blake to weave a mantra of Biblical, domestic, and political themes unified by repetition and manic religious energy.National Poetry Series winner selected by Mary Ruefle There is delightful work and artistry in this book, and much to pore and ponder, to re-read of what the poet’s mind intended: also of what “I am that I am” might have intended.Cynthia Arrieu-King, DIAGRAMWhen [Stepanek] effectively balances the formal repetition that exerts pressure on her lines and the lyrical imagination that seeks to escape these constraints, her poems achieve a sublime resonance that is moving and authoritative. For this to happen even occasionally within a first collection is an impressive achievement and one that Stepanek will hopefully build upon in her subsequent work.Brandon