The Way a Wound Becomes a Scar
“The Way a Wound Becomes a Scar is a stunning volume of poems, truly a book of the body, both literally and metaphorically, that beautifully blends concision and stylistic grace. Especially moving is its swift, precise narrative, articulated with enormous lyric depth, of a kidney transplant from sister to brother. I have no trouble ranking Emily Schulten among our most promising younger poets.”
— B.H. Fairchild
“To read The Way a Wound Becomes a Scar is to enter a world of deep pain and deep beauty, and to exit with a renewed faith in the regenerative power of story, memory, and myth. In this extraordinary collection, Emily Schulten moves beyond the story of a life-saving kidney transplant to probe the edges of familial and romantic love and the connections that bind us all. With images as precise as a scalpel’s blade, these captivating, necessary poems will linger in the body and mind long after the book is closed.”
— Chelsea Rathburn, author of Still Life with Mother and Knife
“These are poems of sacrifice and love, of learning how to live in the real world. They offer no easy answers. Emily Schulten is young and energetic and talented. She will leave her mark on American poetry.”
— David Bottoms
Rest in Black Haw
“A remarkable work—poems that set roots, that wind downward into the earth of a specific place with startling exactitudes—clay thick mud, fever air—poems wrought with great care, full of invisible eyes that open to glimmers of phosphor. This entire book, in its radiance and ashes, is an offering toward the deep.”
— Marsha de la O
“Whether she is writing about some lost and in-love fellow, trapped in the wrong end of a relationship like a bug at the bottom of a mayonnaise jar, or about the Ohio Sweet Corn Festival, there is a strange surety and beauty here that jumps right off the page and pulls the reader in.”
— Leon Stokesbury
“Emily Schulten’s words are chosen with all of the pleasures combined sound and sense provide. Rest in Black Haw is all about our hearts in search of their contentments.”
— Dara Wier