The Sorrow and the Fast of It

Poetry. "THE SORROW AND THE FAST OF IT is a severe and tender book in its 'incalculable' correspondence between ocean and ground; the one who writes, and the one who receives"—Bhanu Kapil. It exists in a middle place: an overlay of indistinct geographies and trajectories. Stephens writes strained between the bodies of Nathalie and Nathanael, between dissolution and abjection, between the borders that limit the body in its built environment—the narrative, splintered and fractured, dislocates its own compulsion. "Stephens is obsessed by breaking free, only to find herself brakeless"—Andrew Zawacki. Stephens is also the author of TOUCH TO AFLICTION and PAPER CITY, both available at SPD.