Ode to Dymphna

Be prepared to be shaken and stirred by Nina Robins's brilliant new poetry anthology, Ode to Dymphna. Robins presents us with a host of startling, disconcerting (and sometimes hilarious) connections and juxtapositions. She reveals the inconsolable bitterness that can hide within the gift of pearl earrings or the deep tenderness within the contemplation of a chicken. In one evolving series of poems, she traces the arc between a child's resentful, bewildering first encounter with the mental health system and the adult's sober gratitude for the pill that finally works. In another, she takes us from the distress of a social media ghosting to the terrifying thought that a beloved partner might die. She gives us new ways to think about losing weight and deleting e-mails and peeing in the woods. And about the unexpected turns of fate that can lead us back to faith. - S. W. Leicher, author of the novels Acts of Assumption and Acts of Atonement