Parts That Were Once Whole

Poetry. Botkin examines questions of mortality, consciousness, and the concept of self. Although sometimes metaphysical, this subject matter doesn't alienate the reader because Botkin's clear, focused craft shapes her subject matter into a very natural-feeling art. Memories start as solid events and become fragmented over time; Botkin takes those fragments and creates a luminous image of what was once whole. Nancy Botkin's poems have appeared in numerous journals, and her chapbook, Signs of Life, was published by No Exit Press in 1999. Nancy lives in South Bend, Indiana, with her husband and teaches freshman composition and creative writing at Indiana University South Bend.