STATE OF GRASS by Janet MacFadyen

“I first encountered State of Grass at an annual reading from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. There are no accidents. Janet MacFadyen has crafted a collection no less epic in its subject, introspection, or homage. Both a haunt and a triumph, State of Grass’ exploration of familial trauma emulates Muriel Rukeyser’s provocation: “What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.” I will never forget MacFadyen’s fissures of healing and reclamation as an invitation to each of us to split open our worlds of truth.”

—Sandra Yannone, author of Boats for Women

“What is it to write your way out? To write your way through? .... What is it to give language to a story obscured, to recall something the mind refuses to access but the body cannot forget? For Janet MacFadyen, this work is the work of the pen, relentless and oracular, raging as wildfire might to make a roaring song, burning what needs to be burned away, cracking open long-forgotten seeds that require such intensity, and ultimately, scribing into the sky a dark smoke that signals a survivor’s determination to speak, saying, here, here are my words, I am still here…”

—Nickole Brown, author of Sister