No Angels

Mary Makofske's big-heartedness is matched only by the capaciousness of her imagination-and surely the two are twinned-her ability to imagine her way into the experiences and perceptions of so many and such different others-a suicide bomber, an enslaved woman, a night guard at a concentration camp among them-as vividly as she renders her own daily and deeply personal experiences. If there are no angels, there are at least poets like Makofske, who bear witness, empathize, illumine, show us how it is to be alive and fully human in times like ours.

-Cecilia Woloch, Tsigan: The Gypsy Poem



In No Angels, Mary Makofske explores manifold facets of loss, from extinct species to extinguished languages down to the frailty of loved ones. Throughout, she finds hope in what perseveres: her garden's swelling squash and kale is resilient in the face of grim history, as is a catbird unreeling its repertoire, an olive tree tenacious even in a conflict zone, her grandson learning the alphabet when the poet is fed up with the limitations of words. All of these prove the world will endure, and maybe even that loss and separation are myths: "the name/ of the tree that straddles/ a border may change from one/ language to another, but its roots/ are anchored in the same earth." Makofske is both wise and a master of the language, a delight to read as always.

-Stephen Cramer, Bone Music (Louise Bogan Award)



The remarkable poems of No Angels rivet and rattle as they delve into the conundrums and uncertainties of human life in the American Anthropocene. Their vibrant, tensile images flex open to unexpected backstories; while the metaphors are luminous, the underbellies they reveal are often dark, even when speckled with delight. With radiant clarity and meticulous craft, Mary Makofske traces a lineage of damage and repair through her family, her nation, the natural world, and "this most recent dread disease," asking herself and the reader how to live the single life you have when "no one has found the antidote to history."

-J. C. Todd, Beyond Repair