Afterbirth by Clara Strong

In Afterbirth, Clara Strong delivers a powerful elegy to motherhood and the mysterious miracle of birth—finding new ways to surprise us in these meditative poems about the bond between mother and child, about abiding loss, and most importantly about the body that “yearns to empty.” Strong is not afraid to question the natural order of things, nor is she afraid to praise all the pain that birth brings to bear.

 –Denton Loving, author of Tamp

In this work, Clara Strong charts a path through births, deaths, mythologies, the natural and the supernatural. In her capable hands, these poems give rise to new ways of understanding motherhood. Strong is a vital and brilliant new voice.

–Rena J. Mosteirin, author of Experiment 116