{"product_id":"9780809329656","title":"Threshold","description":"\u003cp\u003eJennifer Richter presents a series of poems that explore the many facets of the term \"threshold.\" Throughout the collection, the narrator experiences several acts of threshing, or separating—from birth and the small yet profound distances that part a mother and child, to the separation caused by illness and its toll on relationships. At the same time, she is progressively gathering, piecing together the remnants of her life, collecting her children into her arms, and welcoming a future without pain. Pain is often present in these poems, as the narrator frequently confronts her own threshold for enduring a ravaging illness. Her harrowing struggle through recovery is chronicled by a poem at the end of each section, tracing her powerful journey from deep suffering to a fragile yet steadfast sense of hope.\u003cbr\u003e     These gripping lyric and prose poems explore duality in its many forms: the private, contemplative world versus a world of action; the mirror sides of health and sickness; the warmth of a June sun and the deep, long nights of winter; mother and child; collecting and letting go. From the comfort of a morning bed at home to the desperate streets of Hanoi, \u003ci\u003eThreshold\u003c\/i\u003e is a searing portrait of healing, the courage it takes to bridge the gulfs that divide, and the wonder of the ties that bind.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat Is My Body Without You?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy son’s pajamas unsnapped\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eon the floor: small husk\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eof his body relaxing on its back,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003elegs and sleeves still filled\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewith his rush.  This part of him\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehasn’t outgrown my arms\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand sometimes lets me lift\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehim up our steep stairs,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecarry him to bed and pull\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehis shade against the gray\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethin winter sky like milk\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emy daughter wakes up wanting. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the last days of lifting her\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eto my breast, I fill her less\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethan the air already gone\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efrom my son’s flat shape.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwice like that I have lain back,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe doctor opening me\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ealong the same clean seam. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach time I was watching:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewith a few tugs the child\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewas out, naked and heading\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etoward other hands, each child\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecut loose before I knew it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Southern Illinois University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47007804817648,"sku":"9780809329656","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780809329656_p0.jpg?v=1763740777","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780809329656","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}