The Beautiful Unnamed: poems by Kathleen A Dale

As poet and essayist Mary Ruefle has asked, “Which is more inexpressible, the beautiful or the terrifying?” And as Wallace Stevens reminds us, “Death is the mother of beauty.” Kathleen Dale's work has been compared to that of Sharon Olds and Elizabeth Bishop. In this, her fourth collection of poetry, Dale explores the connections between beauty and the deaths -- big and small -- that are always taking place around us. She “unnames” beauty in order to see it afresh in its many guises: her connection to the conflicted history of her home state, Kansas; the sudden death of her beloved sister at sixteen; the beauty and fragility of present family relationships; the uses of music and poetry in transforming loss; the varied perspectives that can lead us past stuck points; the hope in new life that can lead us past sorrow. As Linda Aschbrenner, founder of Free Verse, has said of Dale’s earlier work, some of which is contained in this collection, Dale “faces off with death in these radiant, haunting, deeply felt poems of remembrance. . . .[Her] memorable words streak across life’s ravines. We need such authentic poems for our sustenance.” (Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to benefit Jazale’s Art Studio (jazalesartstudio.org), which promotes the arts and education for the youth of Milwaukee.)