chapbook epitome of incomprehensibility Small book, e.g. of poetry. My American grandmother who bore the name of a Canadian province wrote a few. Poetry and essays, self-published and with local presses around Manchester, Maine. 260228 ... raze i'm always quietly amazed by how much depth and power a poet can pack into such a small space. christine stroud's "the buried return" and emma rhodes' "razor burn" are two chapbooks that have stood out for me. both feel like suites of songs that can't be separated. both dig into identity, trauma, friendship, loss, and the beauty and difficulty of working out who you are in a world that isn't always kind to those who are brave enough to be themselves. but the one that's never left me alone is catie rosemurgy's "first the burning". it's technically an excerpt from a longer book of poetry that looks like it might never see the light of day. i think it stands on its own as a fully realized work, though i'll always wonder what the full-length book might have looked like. i've read it twice. i could read it another ten times and still feel like i haven't parsed all its secrets. some of the titles are poems before they've even been told. "america leans down and talks quietly into the girl's ear like a mother" is one of my favourites. it's been out of print forever (there were only one hundred and fifty physical copies made), but the publisher has made it available as a free download over here: https://bloofbooks.com/rosemurgy_firstheburning2/ 260301 what's it to you? who go blather from