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This is a collection in which the unexpected is commonplace: "the" and "an" attend a 12-step group for co-dependents; the human tongue is exposed as "old amphibian"; and The Angel of You Made This Mess, Lie Down rises from tangled bedsheets. MacLeod works intimately, intricately, with the power of nuance, of detail. The dividing walls of time and place remain intact but approach transparency because of what turns visible -- and audible -- when we become still enough to hear the singing at the edges.

Rooted in a particular life but looking outward, these poems express a full range of emotion. In the linked section, the gathering up of each wave before its breaking, a mother, a daughter and a Cape Breton village form a story that is both personal and archetypal: a blueprint for growing up -- for "learning long division" in a vast and changing world.

Two of the poems in this book have won national prizes: Arc's Poem of the Year award, and Second Prize in the LCP's National Poetry Contest. When the final poem, "Especially for a woman, reading," was broadcast, listeners responded from across the country, asking: "Where can I get a copy?" This book is the reply.