THE LOST WORLD

A poetic celebration of nature, love, and oneness.

Drill explores earthly, celestial, and emotional landscapes in this mystical book of poems. In “Aquarium,” she uses a glass cage metaphor to describe alienation and the struggle to be deeply known; an image of a girl beating at the door of a “house of illusions,” fear and anger roiling as an inner conflict intensifies, is central to “Escape”; and a musician enthralls the speaker and touches her heart as he sings and strums a guitar in “Call-and-Response.” The poet succumbs to the wilderness’ pull in “Forest,” writing, “Sometimes I want to witness. I wander like a bear from my home. I enter the forest knowing nothing, absolutely nothing, of why I came.” She reminisces about a time when her heart was “new” and the “old, tired world was young as a bright, white shell.” Stillness is found by a pond where mallards joyfully glide over the water. The arrival of robins in a cherry tree awakens the speaker and reminds her of all that is “green and holy.” Not all of the poems are ecstatic, however; “Confined to Dressing Room with Stepmother” describes a soul-crushing, identity-stripping shopping experience, while “The Tattooed Man” examines how pain can manifest externally. This lyrical poetry collection is rich with evocative imagery and emotional depth. Drill’s descriptions are imaginative and unique, from Birds of Paradise as “mouths of wisdom” to a hummingbird as a “lone angel circling.” Drill turns the tiniest detail—like the “blue of unveiled secrets” of robins’ eggs—into a beautiful and mysterious meditation. However, the oft-cryptic style of these prose poems occasionally makes them impenetrable in lines like, “Joy is the sensation of cells dividing: mother becoming many mothers. There are many shoulders to rest the forehead against, many, many luminous fingers to wrap around hermit’s hands still clenched in the dark rooms of pockets.”

An intricate, ethereal poetry collection that may be too abstract for some readers.