Following Phia, Poems by Michele Reese

The sensual poems of Michele Reese's Following Phia take the reader on many travels: geographical, philosophical, and spiritual. Both intellectually rigorous and emotionally complex, these poems establish Reese as a new poet to watch.

Sample Poems by Michele Reese

“The employment of myth, the summoning of the body’s strength and fragility, the fears and delights of holding a newborn, the nostalgia for the lost island world of the mother, and love, most enduringly love—all these elements are woven into the lovely verses of Following Phia. ‘Wanting to be mothered, not wanting to be lost’ one poem nakedly concludes, echoing the primal desire, one that finds its most potent image in the exotic lost mango, which burns in memory and bursts on the tongue, a pleasure mixed ruefully and memorably with pain.”—Lynne McMahon

“With her ear to the ground and her heart on her sleeve, Michele Reese has countered the overwhelming flux of everyday life with an enlightened refusal to overlook even the smallest wonders that present themselves. These poems remind us that, however rarified the experience, it is ‘not altogether unknowable.’ This is a welcome new voice, true to its nature and true to the gifts that compose its lines.”—Sherod Santos

Born in Texas and raised in West Virginia, Michele Reese teaches at the University of South Carolina Sumter. She received her Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Missouri, and has published poems in Mid-America Poetry Review, The Paris Review, Poet Lore, and elsewhere. This is her first book-length collection. 

ISBN: 1933456310, 80 pages

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