The Hollows of Bone by Isabella J. Mansfield
$15.99
Isabella J. Mansfield writes poetry, but you probably knew that. She writes often about anxiety, body image, intimacy, and will occasionally break her “no rules” rule for haiku, tanka and senryu. In 2018 she won the Mark Ritzenhein New Author Award. She is probably wearing a burgundy shirt right now.
The poems in Isabella J. Mansfield‘s The Hollows of Bone oscillate between caring and not caring, between apathy and “its hands around a heart” – the speaker’s heart – and the pain this ‘not caring’ causes. The upshot is bruises – from all quarters – from “momlife,” from being a daughter, from the body the speaker inhabits. Even a run of the mill shopping trip turns comically dark as a discount toy mutters Dia de Los Desecration rants at all the customers and exposes our speaker as the Target’s center. The good news is that this hollow spot and the others explored here have a voice – Mansfield’s voice – and unfold in raw, lyrical poems that rise triumphantly and find “the beauty in it.”
–Dennis Hinrichsen, Lansing Poet Laureate and author of Skin Music
The Queen of Brevity introduces her beautiful poetry chapbook,The Hollows of Bone. Make no mistake, these bones have plenty of meat on them. Mansfield takes every day subjects and makes them powerful, relatable, heartbreaking, and often, humorous too. She discusses the fragility of human emotions, with anxiety taking the forefront – speaking to us all about how life and its foibles can manifest into a work of poetic art that kicks us all in the gut with its honesty.
–Sammie Adams, Poet & co-founder of Poetsln
To say that The Hollows of Bone is ‘compelling’ or ‘riveting’ wouldn’t do it justice. What do you even call a poetry book that hits this hard? I don’t know the word, but Isabella J. Mansfield probably does.
–B. Diehl, author of Ballpoint Penitentiary
Description
The Hollows of Bone – second edition
Winner of the 2018 Mark Ritzenhein New Author Award
by Isabella J. Mansfield
$15.99, paper
979-8-88838-156-4
2019
Isabella J Mansfield (she/her) writes about anxiety, intimacy, and body image both generally and as a woman with a disability. She has a love for stage poetry, and has taken her work around the country and across the pond, including performances at the Oberon Theater, Cambridge, MA, and Nambucca London. A two-time Pushcart nominee, Write Bloody McCarthy Prize Honorable Mention, and a Best of the Net Nominee, Isabella is always looking for ways to bring a little humor into her deeply personal poems, and is almost never sorry to make you cry. Instagram and Facebook @isabellajmansfield
Morgan Schlicker (verified owner) –
A powerful series of poems that really hit close to home – as a mom, as a daughter, and as a woman trying to find her own definition between the two. A great mix of humor – “Local Woman…”, “To the Girl…” – tension – “Crisis Point”, “Wrong” – and some hard-hitting “#momlife” moments sprinkled in between.
Ron Graves –
REVIEW: THE HOLLOWS OF BONE, by ISABELLA MANSFIELD
Poetry comes with an arduous responsibility: to reveal the truth. In her new book, The Hollows of Bone, Isabella Mansfield offers us truths about the hazards of human existence, both physical and psychological.
Despite her often deceptively light touch, Isabella does not spare the reader the pain of insight into her own struggles, or those in which we all share, and this can make for an uneasy read. She begins by telling us about apathy, which seems to promise the ease of “not feeling” but, instead, is a “vast gaping canyon.” Elsewhere, we encounter suicide (…And They Said Fresh Air Would Be Good For Me) and the cul de sac of ambivalence:
“She has one foot on the starting line, the other on a cliff. She waits for the gun to startle her in either direction. She is ready to run or jump. She doesn’t care which.” (From “She”.)
Ambivalence and apathy are accompanied by the grinding unpleasantness of the mundane, where even the sound of a paint roller is disgusting (Wide W Stokes); nature offers only the death and browning of blossoms (I Don’t Write Nature Poetry); and even the demands of our loved children can seem overwhelming (#momlife).
The one-time enfent terrible of psychiatry, RD Laing, remarked that whereas people often talk about “mere” subjectivity they never apply the same adjective to objectivity, and yet our entire lives are experienced subjectively. As Isabella says in her poem, My Naked Body, reflecting on her attempt to find beauty in the work of art that is her own nakedness, “But isn’t all art subjective?” Well, yes, it is, and elsewhere in this collection of poems she subjectively addresses issues like the relationship between parents and children; the decay of the flesh; crises of faith; the sometimes crushing demands of everyday existence; and the dreadful feeling of being alone and unheld.
So, is there no hope? Of course there is. Acknowledging the pain and suffering that is inherent to our existence (and the other kind that seems to be unnecessary and, therefore, an insult to our psychological and physical integrity) is not the same as surrendering to it, and Isabella Mansfield’s poems sing the song of a continuing struggle fuelled by courage and optimism.
Reading these poems may lead us to conclude that this is how life is: that it cannot be endured without the determination to prevail. In order to achieve that we need humour as well as bleak honesty, and Isabella gives us that in poems like the surreal, “Local Woman Accidentally Terrorises Target Customers with Noisy Clearance Halloween Decor That Won’t Turn Off.” The title alone is a delight.
This is a slim and rich collection of poems that will confront, challenge, and inspire the reader.
Charles Carroll –
Isabella J Mansfeld was not born of this earth. She brings such a magnitude of power in each word she writes. Her delivery of her poems is immaculate. I find myself enthralled with each word step by step. A master wordsmith she captures the interest of every reader by personalized familiarity to their own experiences. A legendary writer has surfaced. We are the blessed recipients to witness the rising prowess of this great writer.