INTO THE WOODS

An evocative poetry collection centered around nature and love.

In this meditative book, Tumanyan explores self-reckoning and romance amid beautiful surroundings. The collection is organized in sections based on the U.S. scholar Joseph Campbell’s conception of the hero’s journey; the first section opens with the titular poem, an invitation to meet the speaker “in the woods / where the wild things are.” The speaker describes how nature sharpens her senses and teaches her to lose herself. Resistance is at the fore of “The Refusal,” where the speaker questions, “What if barren trees / know best / how to defy the ground?” “Entering the Cave” paints the self as both “the very cave / you fear to enter” and “the hidden treasure.” “Blue Topaz” depicts the speaker holding a cherished pendant, summoning “the memories / that stained the pages of my life.” The third section is a sensual reverie: “I feel you in the dark / when the breeze strokes my leaves,” the speaker swoons in “The Woodpecker.” A partnership sours in the fourth section’s poem “Unfinished Canvas”: “You feed me maggots / as you feast on my heart.” The final section finds the speaker departing the woods, “both lost and found.” In the last poem, “The Arrival,” the speaker insists, “The forest is now within you.” In this intimate book, Tumanyan animates the natural world in ways that mirror emotional states. The poet convincingly infuses the forest with agency in descriptions of how “moss keeps secrets / between root and ground.” The work is also visually dynamic; “morsels of words,” an anchor-shaped poem, opens, “i woke as a net / torn by / moonlight, / still smelling / of fish & rust.” Metaphors like “My heart is cold—an empty trunk” or “I loved him— / the way dusk leans toward a window” distill complex feelings into memorable images. At times, the poems’ blunt declarations (such as “For the woman / who is not chosen— / choose yourself!”) limit opportunities for reader interpretation.

A love letter to nature that occasionally turns too insistent.