Thanks to NetGalley and Graywolf Press For the ARC!

Catherine Barnett’s "Solutions for the Problem of Bodies in Space" is as sprawling, excessive, and essential as one might expect from the book’s title, but it serves a purpose—illuminating the abundance of ways we try to fill the vacuum of loneliness.

This is a collection preoccupied with impermanence, slipping in and out of relationship and isolation in equal measure. The titular bodies move entropically, shaded by fatigue, which causes these poems to read like someone expelling every end-of-day thought in a single, heavy sigh. There are countless moments where the speaker seems to be throwing ideas at the wall, hoping at least one of them will offer the friction necessary for connection. Barnett’s ability to take this approach without it undermining the book is impressive. These poems draw the reader in just enough to make them aware of their own distance, and the effect is mesmerizing and dreamlike.

The title itself seems like an irony—these poems sit largely outside of space, often drifting towards metaphor in lieu of physicality. In an interesting move, the sequence comprising ten “Studies in Loneliness” poems feels the most transparent and the most grounded. It seems to suggest that the certainty of loneliness is its ability to offer moments of lucidity.

Truly a remarkable collection.