Living Quarters uses both the structure of a domestic space and the rhythms of the seasons to seek, but not reliably find, order and consolation in life's seeming disorder. Relationships dissolve; deaths come too soon; the past vanishes; the earth that gives beautiful and nourishing foods swallows up the creatures for whom it provides. These poems struggle with that mix of affirmation and destruction, celebrating nature's generosity while trying to make peace with its cruelty. Thought-provoking poems reflect an intimate internal dialogue, addressing, among other ideas, Is it really safer at home, or are there perils within our closest relationships, in daily domestic ritual? And where is home, when people are constantly moving, marriages dissolving, new relationships beginning and ending? When is a house just a house, and when does it become a home? Cooking warms a house and gives it a feeling of home, but does there also need to be a surrounding, anchoring community?
