“Through the lens of her singular and compelling life, Carole Simmons Oles guides us through our fractured, confused, violent century. At seventy, facing an increasingly fragile body, Oles crafts language that creates bonds—across cultures and tongues, across decades and oceans and continents. These powerhouse poems reach out generation to generation with generosity and compassion. These poems invite us in, offer food and drink and shelter.”—Peggy Shumaker, author of Gnawed Bones

Travel, blood, and transgression are the materials that art shapes in these poems. Carole Simmons Oles’s work moves among physical, spiritual, and metaphorical frontiers where East meets West, where relationships are forged and broken, and where a woman can now process and reflect on the experiences that have shaped her life.

Travel, blood, and transgression are the materials that art shapes in these poems. Carole Simmons Oles’s work moves among physical, spiritual, and metaphorical frontiers where East meets West, where relationships are forged and broken, and where a woman can now process and reflect on the experiences that have shaped her life.