Throwing the Bones

Using relics from past lives and premonitions of the future, Caitlin Jackson's new book of poems casts a bewitching spell.

Throwing the Bones borrows from the long shadows of history, both personal and mythical, to successfully navigate the present. These poems live in the wide-open spaces between Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After. Here are wicked stepsisters who slice off their own feet, knights who tumble from their horses, and dragons that sometimes win. Here are the darker sides of fairy tale and myth, the parts parents leave out when telling bedtime stories.

Though Caitlin's book may explore the bleakest corners of life, including addiction and mental illness, she doesn't end the story there. The poems thrive in darkness, but just before the credits roll, like a hand shooting from a fresh grave, something surprising appears. It is no ill omen however, but just a porch light- left on and waiting for you to find your way in from the night.