Cleopatra Mathis's best bookÂ-poems that counter absence with dogs, ducks, and spiders in the wilderness just beyond her back door.
“Animals dominate this humane and serious sixth collection from Mathis, at first in the chill forests of New England, and then in and around the sea.... Mathis’s pages show heart, observation, and thought; they also show a loneliness, and a sense of lost human connection assuaged by instinct, by ‘her own animal self.’”
—Publishers Weekly
“These restrained, razor-sharp poems about human pain and the psyche’s attempts to ride it are for all poetry readers.”
—Library Journal
"I love this book! And haven't been able to say so about any book so unequivocally for a long time. Not only has Mathis found subjects that impel her toward writing that's both deep and poignant, but she's not afraid of registering sentiment right up to the almost unbearable edge. The creatures for which she has so much intelligent and well-wrought empathy, we suspect arise out of a profound sympathy with the travails of simply being alive, but there's no self-pity here, just what feels acute and often painful, and beautiful accuracy."
—Stephen Dunn
"From time to time, all too rarely, we come upon a book that reminds us why we go to poetry in the first place. Why, amid the depredations of time and faithlessness and the stark indifference of the gods, we still seek solace in language and clarity of mind. Book of Dog is just such a reminder. These elegant, heart-wrought poems were written by a lyricist at the height of her powers. I will turn to them again and again."
—Linda Gregerson
“This book makes me feel. It makes me hurt. And, in a crucial completion of a job well done, Book of Dog helps me understand the sources of these feelings.... I am enthralled with the delicate way Mathis handles the world in these poems. I can see how deeply she cares for it. As you read Book of Dog, you will too.”
—Camille T. Dungy, The Rumpus
