Chamber After Chamber

By Saara Myrene Raappana

Chamber after Chamber is about what fractures, fixes, and refills the hearts of two girls as they grow into women. A loose narrative in three sections, the poems follow a speaker and her cousin through their hardscrabble, backwoods childhood to their separation--both physical and emotional--as adults. From the make-believe apocalypses and cut-and-paste valentines of elementary school to the stadium-seating classrooms and multiplexes of southern China, our speaker tries to leave the shame and dysfunction of her family behind. In China, she begins to see America--and herself--clearly for the first time, and in doing so discovers that both her cousin and her country are inextricably woven into

her body] part that never sleeps the blood
and chambered meat that's like a rock squeezed
in a fist rapping its knuckles
on the sweet door of the body.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1625347782
• ISBN13: 9781625347787
• Release Date: April 2024
• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Length: 66 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.9" x 8.9"