The Hollows of Bone

<p class=ql-align-justify>The poems in <strong>Isabella J. Mansfield</strong>'s <em>The Hollows of Bone</em> oscillate between caring and not caring between apathy and its hands around a heart - the speaker's heart - and the pain this 'not caring' causes. The upshot is bruises - from all quarters - from momlife from being a daughter from the body the speaker inhabits. Even a run of the mill shopping trip turns comically dark as a discount toy mutters Dia de Los Desecration rants at all the customers and exposes our speaker as the Target's center. The good news is that this hollow spot and the others explored here have a voice - Mansfield's voice - and unfold in raw lyrical poems that rise triumphantly and find the beauty in it.</p><p class=ql-align-justify><strong>-Dennis Hinrichsen</strong> Lansing Poet Laureate and author of <em>Skin Music</em></p><p class=ql-align-justify> </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>The Queen of Brevity introduces her beautiful poetry chapbook<em>The Hollows of Bone</em>. Make no mistake these bones have plenty of meat on them. Mansfield takes every day subjects and makes them powerful relatable heartbreaking and often humorous too. She discusses the fragility of human emotions with anxiety taking the forefront - speaking to us all about how life and its foibles can manifest into a work of poetic art that kicks us all in the gut with its honesty.</p><p class=ql-align-justify><strong>-Sammie Adams</strong> Poet & co-founder of Poetsln</p><p class=ql-align-justify> </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>To say that <em>The Hollows of Bone</em> is 'compelling' or 'riveting' wouldn't do it justice. What do you even call a poetry book that hits this hard? I don't know the word but <strong>Isabella J. Mansfield</strong> probably does.</p><p class=ql-align-justify><strong>-B. Diehl</strong> author of <em>Ballpoint Penitentiary</em></p><p><br></p>