Midlife Calculus

Britt Kaufmann set out to take calculus for the first time at age 47 so she could cross it off her bucket list. She did not expect it to lead to her first full-length collection of poetry: Midlife Calculus. Calculus is the study of how things change, so it's a fitting title for poems about midlife, about learning something difficult and new, and the state of public education post pandemic. These poems, often short, bear witness to the struggles of both teachers and students. And, like any woman's romp through perimenopause, the mood and tone vary wildly, but always with a call to reflect and find moments of peace and purpose, to "work literal equations / and maybe wonders, / figure the balance between expectations / and grace."