Relief Map

In an extended sequence of prose poems, Relief Mapuses etymology to navigate eros-turned-longtime partnership. Entries range from “Vulnerability” to “Fire” to “Salt,” interspersed with meditations on topics including the subjunctive mood and documentary studies. Here, the terrain of the Midwest—and of the beloved’s body—offer maps with which to chart the profound fact of love in the everyday, fully aware of the possibility of losing it. Dictionary-like in approach and lyric in effect, Relief Map is a sort-of secular book of hours, exploring what it means to make a life with another person and mean it.