Fact of the Matter

"e;Part-epic, part-elegy"e; this collection presents "e;a wonderfully involuted tableau where ancient Greek myth . . . strip malls, and natural history swirl together"e; (Kenyon Review).In this intricately crafted poetry collection, Sally Keith shows the self as a crucible of force-that which compels us to exert ourselves upon the world, and meanwhile renders us vulnerable to it. Moving from the mundane to the profound, these poems re-imagine things great and small, constantly reorienting our relationship to matter, science, mythology, our internal selves.With poems remarkable in their clarity and captivating in their matter-of-factness, Keith examines the impossible and inevitable privacy of being a person in the world. As we seek to put everything in its place, we must also negotiate the inexorable pull toward the places we call home-one we alternately try and fail to resist.