In The Belly of the Albatross The wonderfully observational poems in

The wonderfully observational poems in Kevin Casey’s American Lotus remind us how separate we are from the natural world

The gutted and the mute fall silent

Cynthia Atkins

quiet / as an unstrung guitar

In The Belly of the Albatross The wonderfully observational poems inIn these moving poems, many of them dramatic monologues spoken by women, Patricia Caspers conjures up the lives of historical individuals a black slave midwife who "[gives] Justice her dowry," Amelia Earhart's mother, waiting hopefully for her daughter's return. And she reimagines the figures of Greek and Hebrew legend the Gorgon who begs for "the gift of monstrosity," the biblical Ruth, revealing a sensuality the Bible does not allow her. She also