A Book of Exquisite Disasters, the first book-length poetry collection from Charlene Spearen, is an exploration of a multifaceted identity forged through moments spent as a daughter, sister, woman, and poet. A nimble wordsmith and unique spirit, Spearen plays with language as if syllables and words are musical notes that in the end creates an exquisite song erupting with mysterious clarity. In these idiosyncratic poems, she hones in with grace and vigor on perplexing subjects from her life experiences and uses the act of writing and creation to propel herself forward on a journey to question and witness humankind's beauty and suffering as an inherent song of the world. These poems represent a leap of faith, the courageous act of letting go and taking risks while remaining reverent to a sense of being a member of a family, of being a woman. In heartfelt narratives Spearen traverses myriad landscapes populated with people real and imagined and infused throughout with the many—and often familiar—exquisite disasters that confront each of us as human beings.
