Stranger

"Sims enters the territory of the irreconcilable, where the intimacy that lies deepest in us... remains event or entity."

--Elizabeth Robinson

A mother's illness and death is only the beginning of the story of STRANGER. This is a death whose presence and particulars are inscribed. We feel from all angles, as Sims's quicksilver narrative moves through a mother's life and its incompletion, apprehension of death, and the adult child's attempts at comprehension. In the end is a hopeful hopelessness approaching Eternity.

Laura Sims is the author of two books of poetry: STRANGER (Fence Books, 2009); and PRACTIC, RESTRAINT (Fence Books, Alberta Prize, 2005); and of four chapbooks, including Corrections (Bronze Skull Press, 2006) and Bank Book (Answer Tag Press, 2004). Her work was included in the anthology, The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century (Cracked Slab Books, 2007), and individual poems have appeared in the journals: DENVER QUARTERLY, Colorado Review, AUFGABE, CRAYON, Cab/Net, Octopus, First Intensity, 26, How2, Parcel, 6X6, La Petite Zine, Columbia Poetry Review, JUBILAT, Lit, and FENCE, among others. She has published book reviews in Boston Review, Jacket, and Rain Taxi; an overview essay on the work of Diane Williams in The Review of Contemporary Fiction (2003); and the article, "David Markson and the Problem of the Novel," in New England Review (2008). She is currently writing essays on the short poem, and working on a poetry manuscript, tentatively titled My god is this a man. She is a co-editor of Instance Press, a curator for the Segue Reading Series, and a volunteer at 826. She lives with Corey and their cat Gomi-chan in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn.