Amy Lipman lives in Chicago, where she works at the Poetry Foundation. She previously taught at Harper College and Carthage College. This is her first book.

The day begins and then, some time later, the day ends. Are we not all responsible for 'noticing and making something of it'? Amy Lipman's debut collection Getting Dressed examines with keen attention / intention the routine, the minutiae of the everyday, elevating what most often is overlooked. Her poems move with warmth and humor from room to room, now lingering by the radiator or kitchen table, now with suitcase in tow, always in contemplation of 'the arrangement of things / all things in relation to / one another.' Objects held in hand-buttons, an avocado, candy wrappers thrown 'out the window in a town you hate'-are studiously recorded as evidence that they really existed. These poems revel in the very act of speaking; they long to connect ("who will fold and press onto themselves the napkin that I give them and / will they love / what is for dinner?"). They are honest and open-hearted. Getting Dressed is a resplendent book which, if let into your day, will teach you to 'challenge the perimeter by looking around,' to see things as this poet sees them, with tender devotion to their presence.Abigail Zimmer, author of girls their tongues