The poems in Carnal Fragrance are straightforward dispatches from the land of grief and mourning. Observant, controlled, and rich with feelings, these poems take note of the surprising moments, small ironies, odd sensations and quotidian realities of survivorhood. They examine what happens when a loved one dies and you must live on without them, aching to find ways to continue in their absence, surrounded by their lingering presence and yet utterly bereft. Ovid said, Songs have immunity from death. Poems like these, which deal with loss in such a clear eyes way remind us that Ovid was right. description by Amy Gerstler