Uncertain Acrobats

Book excerpt: These poems address the universal experiences of death and loss, putting the complicated feelings of grief into words. Uncertain Acrobats evokes the feeling of unraveling. The central concern of this narrative is the death of a parent and the fumbling for balance a dying father and his adult daughter share. Rebecca Hart Olander's intimate collection doesn't shy away from darkness, but it also strives for light, which resides in music and open-hearted humanity. These poems arc across the terrain of divorce, family, childhood, coming of age, mortality, and deep, abiding love, always landing with a foothold in the genuine. A manifestation of what endures after grief has unraveled our closest bonds, Uncertain Acrobats reaches beyond the author's personal experience of grief. This collection speaks to all whose lives have been upended by terminal illness or the loss of a beloved person.