Women Twice Removed

A debut collection from Christina Lloyd, "an original poet, a multivalent sensibility, an urgent voice that commands attention."--Graham Mort

Christina Lloyd's poetry, in WOMEN TWICE REMOVED, is intense and tautly eloquent. The poems are prominently tethered to Lloyd's grandmother, Esperanza, whose name means "hope," and who journeyed from Spain to the Philippines and on to California. Life, it is said, begins with a stumble, and so here begins the life of these arresting poems, which delve into what Christina and her grandmother experienced along the way. Lloyd's poetry is like a tree that is well rooted and stands tall. Her poems speak quietly; her images are paintings. Read these poems slowly, and take the time to reflect, to savor each line, and to believe in hope.

"In Christina Lloyd's haunting and extraordinary collection, we experience the search for a true ancestral home. Where does the speaker end and the (grandm)other begin? Which is the language of connection and which of separation? From squid ink to paintings to feral cats to sculptures to mummies to family portraits, these poems navigate the tensions and energies that exist across cultures and through deep time. With a deftness and specificity that is both gorgeous and arresting, they sing out over a familiar meadow, inviting us to remember our own versions of 'a finger cut so deep // it became a gill.' WOMEN TWICE REMOVED is an elegant, unsettling book."--Caroline Goodwin, author of Madrigals and Old Snow, White Sun

Poetry. Art. Family & Relationships. Women's Studies.