Unsymmetrical Body

The poems of Jennifer R. Edwards often draw on memory, yet their freshness on the page strikes me over and over again. She takes the raw materials of past and present family life and changes them over time into the rich and fertile ground of true art, surprising us with the sharpness of her observations, and the much-needed humility of always trying to be "a heart beating the world." 

-James Crews, Poet and Editor of The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection & Joy

Jennifer R. Edwards writes from the deep dissonances of the heart and mind trusting the wisdom of the poet's impulse. Relationships & objects undergo a defamiliarization that bear truths of personal connection: a father's love remembered in grapefruit, a grandmother and her love of professional wrestling, Sun-In and a parent's planning the life of a daughter-no connection is unexplored. She shows us the deliberate & compassionate treatment of her various subjects and moves me...Unsymmetrical Body is a collection of colossal stamina-when you read, you will learn how the tender survive the harsh truths of this world in grace.  

-Rajiv Mohabir, Author of CUTLISH and ANTIMAN 

"I'm trying to understand complexity, duality, how a door never swings equally in both directions," Jennifer R. Edwards tells us in the first poem of this remarkable debut collection. Her poems are adept at considering nuance, mixed feelings, complications, and ambivalence. With poems remarkable for their skill and range-quick lyric flashes coexist here with prose-like meditations, incantation, taut narrative-Jen has written a book that is moving, intelligent, and, ultimately, humane. 

-Kevin Prufer, Prof. of English, The Creative Writing Program at The University of Houston and 

Co-Curator of The Unsung Masters Series

Unsymmetrical Body makes the private public. These are poems filled with human dignity and human failings from a promising young New Hampshire poet we are sure to hear more about. 

-Jimmy Pappas, Rattle chapbook prize winning author of Falling off the Empire State Building

"Pink thumbs of strawberries", "the sexy suck of cash in slots". Jen Edwards teases us towards the push-pull of relationships. Precise word choice & well-crafted lines leave the reader with inklings something else is going on within the poem. Strong images make the reader re-read lines to suck marrow out of their meaning.  

-Barbara Bald, Author of Drive-Through Window