maggie nelson is a wonder. simultaneously fast and immersive, dancing gracefully between what is omitted and what is shared, a triumph to pull off. there were lines here so beautiful that they stopped me in my tracks.

An elegy companion to The Red Parts, this time focused on Jane and largely told in poetry and prose.

Maggie Nelson did an incredible job piecing together her stories, reflections, and pieces of information and writings gathered from her aunt Jane, for this wildly beautiful memoir-esque collection of poetry. I don't really know how to describe it, but this book, like so many of Neslon's writings, blends and transgresses genres of writing in a way that works so well. The presence and reflection on Jane as a person throughout this piece, as well as the way that Jane's inner thoughts, so beautifully parallel Maggie's own, and in turn connect with the reader, is is powerful here. I do feel like reading this book, I felt so much connectivity with both Maggie and Jane, and that is put even further into disturbing context given Jane's ultimate fate that frames so much of Maggie's life and her family.