Reviews
Lisa C. Krueger's second collection holds us close as a mother bears witness to her own child's mortality and to other forces that can tear the very framework of a home. These are poems of troubled harbor, where Krueger gives us an anchor amid the unimaginable. As a poet and psychologist, Krueger is a champion of creative fertility, the dark places, and the floral blossoming of human connection that makes the unfathomable bearable. A moving, inspirational, and life-affirming book. -Jenny Factor, Lisa C. Krueger's poems cradle "brutal sounds of self, / what must be heard, / what said." Whether the focus is a child who cuts herself to make sure she's alive or the mother who cannot see her daughter's wounds, this poet responds with deep empathy-listening and speaking. This book deals with the helplessness of a mother witnessing a child's suffering until the thousand cranes her classmates fold soar on her last breath. These poems are as wild as a hawk in the kitchen, as nourishing as crusty loaves, hot from the oven. -Peggy Shumaker, The world of Animals the Size of Dreams is full of anguish, redeemed by moments of beauty, transcendence, and hard-won understanding. In these concise, well-crafted meditations, Lisa C. Krueger faces pain head-on, and faces it down. --Charles Harper Webb, Lisa C. Krueger's second collection holds us close as a mother bears witness to her own child's mortality and to other forces that can tear the very framework of a home. These are poems of troubled harbor, where Krueger gives us an anchor amid the unimaginable. As a poet and psychologist, Krueger is a champion of creative fertility, the dark places, and the floral blossoming of human connection that makes the unfathomable bearable. A moving, inspirational, and life-affirming book. --Jenny Factor, The world of Animals the Size of Dreams is full of anguish, redeemed by moments of beauty, transcendence, and hard-won understanding. In these concise, well-crafted meditations, Lisa C. Krueger faces pain head-on, and faces it down. -Charles Harper Webb, Lisa C. Krueger's poems cradle "brutal sounds of self, / what must be heard, / what said." Whether the focus is a child who cuts herself to make sure she's alive or the mother who cannot see her daughter's wounds, this poet responds with deep empathy--listening and speaking. This book deals with the helplessness of a mother witnessing a child's suffering until the thousand cranes her classmates fold soar on her last breath. These poems are as wild as a hawk in the kitchen, as nourishing as crusty loaves, hot from the oven. --Peggy Shumaker, Lisa C. Krueger's poems cradle "brutal sounds of self, / what must be heard, / what said." Whether the focus is a child who cuts herself to make sure she's alive or the mother who cannot see her daughter's wounds, this poet responds with deep empathy--listening and speaking. This book deals with the helplessness of a mother witnessing a child's suffering until the thousand cranes her classmates fold soar on her last breath. These poems are as wild as a hawk in the kitchen, as nourishing as crusty loaves, hot from the oven. --Peggy Shumaker, The world of Animals the Size of Dreams is full of anguish, redeemed by moments of beauty, transcendence, and hard-won understanding. In these concise, well-crafted meditations, Lisa C. Krueger faces pain head-on, and faces it down. --Charles Harper Webb, The world ofAnimals the Size of Dreamsis full of anguish, redeemed by moments of beauty, transcendence, and hard-won understanding. In these concise, well-crafted meditations, Lisa C. Krueger faces pain head-on, and faces it down. -Charles Harper Webb