Chaos Theory for Beginners

"In Chaos Theory for Beginners, Ronda Piszk Broatch turns quantum physics into a surprisingly accessible lens through which we can better grasp not only our relation to the larger universe but to ancestry, interpersonal relations, and the unconscious. Characterized by an affective echoing of sounds throughout myriad associative insights, the poems in this book confirm Broatch as an inimitable no-nonsense romantic who intuits the dialectical advantage in examining doubt and secular revelation...Whether rendering the implications of the night sky, the love of partner, the history of a discovery, the absurdity of contemporary politics, or the blood-links to our past, Broatch is in fact that affirming observer."

-Kevin Clark, author of The Consecrations



"Smart and spirited, playful and intimate, Ronda Piszk Broatch's Chaos Theory for Beginners probes the patterns and uncertainties of our daily lives for the vast solar systems within us, inviting, into our human relationships of grief, wonder, and desire, the cosmos, 'tumbling/ its spent fireworks, blowing confetti/ under our door.' Reading these poems, I am re-ignited with possibility, reminded how the matter and movements of our lives, small as they are, are as exquisite as the complex galaxies, as brilliant and limitless as the stars."

-Jennifer Elise Foerster, author of The Maybe-Bird