“It’s been said, that last thoughts last for the rest
of ever. That reflections at the second
of death extend and extend in a never-
ending on-and-on. A whole lot’s been said
though, Love.”
– from “Rewriting a Greeting Card”
Bonehouse, Erika Brumett’s newest collection (Green Linden Press) blurs lines between academic epigraphs and twisting metaphors that wrap through the evolution of self-discovery – and self-discovery can mean so many things.
We begin with Darwin and talk of “The Worm” and the understanding that that this “animal…has played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized beings” (Darwin). It’s no surprise we start with the worm and the beginning of life; the slow, subtle way they change the earth, and know the secrets of death. But to know anything, one must live something.
Brumett walks through “butcher paper bed sheets” because sometimes that’s how it feels to evolve. Sometimes you have to discover the clitoris and learn about dolphin masturbation in order to get to the part where we can leave legacies and deal with cleaning out memories from closets.
But in the end, we all die. In the end it takes us 2 minutes to walk to the top of the death drop. In the end, we have evolved. In the end we have learned who we are just in time to let it all go.
Purchase your copy of Bonehouse from Green Linden.