A Cartography of Birds: Poems

In her exceptional debut collection, J.L. Conrad illuminates a personal landscape and gives it voice and body through the rhythms of liturgy and the language of individual perception. Divided into three sections--"Myths and Incantations," "Topographies," and "A Science of Ordinary Things"--the volume seems propelled by the turning wheel of memory. From "Planting, 1964," which describes a family photograph, to the long final poem that uses Frisbee golf as a tool for recollecting the course of a relationship, Conrad maintains emotional authenticity and a unique, gentle eloquence. A CARTOGRAPHY OF BIRDS is a reminder of the power that a poet wields in transforming a moment into words.