The Carrying is organic in the best way, composting pain into beauty. There are a LOT of poems here that I love, so it's hard to pick a favorite, but "The Vulture and the Body" is a strong contender. It starts:
"On my way to the fertility clinic,
I pass five dead animals.
First a raccoon with all four paws to the sky
like he's going to catch whatever bullshit load
falls on him next."
and it ends:
"The great black scavenger flies parallel now, each of us speeding,
intently and driven, toward what we've been taught to do with death."
At times political, at times abstract, always achingly personal, Limon writes about infertility, family, aging, and death with a tenderness and wisdom that will wring out your heart. Other favorites in this collection include "Dead Stars," "Wonder Woman," "A New National Anthem," and "Instructions on Not Giving Up." I expect this is going to be a book that I loan out as often as I can; poetry this good is meant to be shared.
n.b. I paid cash for this book on the strength of several poems I read online.
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