Notes from the Girl Cave

In Notes from the Girl Cave, Sarah Carleton invites us in to "hang kimonos on nails, paint tired things glossy coral and red...wear dresses that drape and poof in the wind...or just zone out and eat jam." Along the way, we mourn for a spider and a lovely hen who lays brown eggs, and we join her astonishment at bees who "pitch a hum just below bliss." We travel through the uncanny, surreal imagery of dreams, where "the map keeps changing, and the destination is moot." Finally, we visit homes of childhood friends and camp with quilts-"One to soften roots and rocks...two on top to keep dreams from escaping." Carleton sees the familiar in unexpected, intimate ways we understand in the deepest parts of ourselves. We are richer for traveling with her.

-Sarah Russell, author of I lost summer somewhere

Many poets write about animals or nature or people, but Carleton connects all of these in poems that "walk in a cloud of sentences," where "the air's a mosh pit of squalls." She takes us to Florida, upstate New York, London, New Orleans, finally landing in Montana, where we can "take a full breath at night / under stars...." Carleton's girl cave is one I wish to visit.

-Nina Bennett, author of The House of Yearning and Mix Tape

Sarah Carleton's Notes from the Girl Cave was quite un-put-downable. And there is so much lush imagery. There is Woman, yes, with a capital W. There is Mother, Wife, and a Poet who tells us about everyday things in such a way that we experience it fresh, new, smiling at the extravagance of her language. It's full of gems like "quiet as a lisp." Can't you just hear it? And gorgeous stuff like, "Low currents puff my shirt when I hold still. / The gulf sighs and sighs and a sidelong / chuff smacks my cheek." And that's just about wind. Illusion, disillusion, disappointments, sadness, tenderness, love, humor, and forgiveness-the Girl Cave has it all.

-Rose Mary Boehm is a widely published poet with three poetry collections to date, a fourth earmarked for publication in June 2020