Epistemology of an Odd Girl
Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas
Without Reason
Because in the midst of a storm
a tree can be halved by lightning
and spare one survivor between Heaven
and home, and because water
can flow from the tub, seep though
a floor of another man’s ceiling
who’s thankful for rain when his
dwelling is parched—and because
one’s speech is occasionally slurred from
the onset of illness rather than gin,
proven by doctors in search of a cure—
and because a woman will die
in childbirth before the infant is placed
on her belly, for the joy of life
and being a mother. Because of this
in the name of gratitude
I’ll write you a poem, imagine you
reading my hodgepodge of lines
with a need for hope and hands
raised high, for the craving of fingers
to wrap around fingers, connecting
souls to a man made steeple. Because
of this, I’ll write you a poem and a poem
and a poem, until we know all that we
don’t; until we embrace all that we
aren’t, until we’re in awe of ourselves
and the universe, forever united
within these words.
isbn 1-59661-159-6
102 pages/$12
Carol Lynn draws her readers in with unique and accessible poetic language while she threads her words from grief to grace. Her beautiful metaphors weave compassion with insight, while circling through love and loss, in a lyrical marriage of the everyday and the spiritual. Grellas lingers on moments of departure, and skirts the hem of longing with delicate precision. I love this book, it truly merits multiple readings.
--Karen Kelsay, Victorian Violet Press
Epistemology of an Odd Girl by Carol Lynn Grellas celebrates what it's like to be a woman on every level, from our most basic instinct to nurture, to our exalted ability to receive wisdom from tragedy. Mothers, wives, lovers, sisters, best friends--we are all goddesses, and rather than focus on our shortcomings, we deserve to "embrace all that we aren't, until we're in awe of ourselves." Superbly written, with tenderness and compassion on every page.
--Robin Stratton, Boston Literary Review
Carol Lynn Grellas is a five-time Pushcart nominee and a 2010 Best of the Net nominee. She is the author of five chapbooks: Breakfast in Winter, Litany of Finger Prayers, Object of Desire, A Thousand Tiny Sorrows, The Butterfly Room, and two electronic chapbooks: Desired Things and To the Children. She lives in El Dorado Hills, California.