The Whole by Contemplation of a Single Bone ─ Poems

In this her second collection of poetry, Nancy K. Pearson explores the possibilities of recovery and transformation in a world where "words cease to matter." The speaker attempts to reconcile the past--a past shadowed by depression, addiction and misdiagnosis. Pearson refuses to end in a place of relief, asking the question, "don't we all /fall into aggregate darkness/for something?" Instead her poems meditate on the lyric of absence and fragmentation. Pearson's poems are restless, unsettling and revelatory.

Nancy K. Pearson's first book of poems, Two Minutes of Lightreceived the L.L. Winship/ PEN New England award and was named a "Must Read Book" at the 2009 Annual Massachusetts Book Awards. She was a writing fellow at The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown for two years and has received numerous awards such as the Inprint Marion Barthelme Prize in Creative Writing, a Pushcart nomination, and a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant. Her work has been published in many journals, includingThe Alaska Review, The Iowa Review, and The Provincetown Arts Magazine. Pearson recently taught poetry at The University of Houston and now lives in Maryland with her partner.