Description

"Friendly Fire, Katrina Roberts' cycle of fifty-two sonnets, proves the durability and flexibility of the lyric today. A taut narrative scaffolding supports Roberts' brief, searing meditations on family, farm labor, friendship, illness, parenting. Colloquial language lends verve. Literal images evoke the texture of farm life. Roberts explores abstraction ( Forgiveness ) with apt metaphor: "I shelter the grudge, build / a rustic cabin for it in my chest, pound rusty nails / in to anchor a porch where I sit glaring." At the close of "Malignant," the narrator asks a timeless question: what lies in wait for us? Read Friendly Fire for Roberts' sensual and wise rendering of the here and now."--Robin Becker, author of Domain of Perfect Affection