Perhaps You Could Breathe For Me

The poems in Perhaps You Could Breathe For Me resemble almost too closely our own lives. On these pages are rare insights into relationships--the cruel, the complicated, the simple, the joyful, the sexy, the fearful, the painful, the intense. Newberry writes about what can go wrong, what does go wrong, about growing up, about the terrors and wonder of aging. She writes about sexuality, where it begins, and whether or not it ends. These poems are extraordinary as they journey through compassion, anger, strength, and universality. The cadences of ordinary speech make this work accessible, and, still, suggest that something rare and exciting is about to happen. Throughout and finally, Newberry’s poems resonate with a search for spirituality—“for a God,” she says “we pray to, but do not know how to love.”