Sister Urn

Sidebrow Books, 2019.
Poetry. Women's Studies.

Andrea Rexilius' SISTER URN is a requiem both intimate and broad in scale, memorializing the life of a sister cut short and the unraveling aftereffects of the anthropocene, "difficult to pin down in objects, and therefore unnamable." Here, poetry is an act not only of holding space for grief but also for restitching what has split or frayed into a raw-edged resolution: "When the future is missing, I will reside in the letter I. I will abide by it, even if it topples over." —J. Michael Martinez

“To call a work ‘poignant’ is to say its needle has pierced you, that you may touch the needle quick at work as it restitches what’s split or frayed. Sister Urn wounds me like this. …Rexilius leads us into that hemisphere long darkened by despair while holding the small illuminations of this music.” —Carolina Ebeid