In Woman with a Tree on her Head, Patricia Corbus writes about the enchanting, troubled beauty of the world and human life in these lyrical poems of grace and distinction. Sly and funny, a little baroque, a little surreal, accepting and generous, her poems spark with surprises.

Please let me hear from you.
Slip a letter under my door,
smoke an exploding cigar with me,
take me out for a cherry bomb
or a Molotov cocktail.

Humor pops up like a hand reaching out to shake you into joy, as in the ending to "Advice for a Baby":

Immaturity is cute, but maturity is beautiful. Love
and Horror kiss, then slap each other. Eros has arrows.
Good is more real than evil. Life is hard. Have a nice time.

The poems in Woman with a Tree on her Head contemplate the delicacy and risks of our connections to people, creatures, nature and the inevitable experiences of loss. Here the uncanny mingles with the raw beauty of the world and the power of mortality.

The sun, a gelid gold,
the lake, a nearsighted blue.
- I'm afraid
that art has nothing to do
with my story, and the end
has already happened.

Patricia Corbus was born in Sarasota, FL and now lives in Charlotte, NC. She has a B.A. from Agnes Scott College, a Master's degree from UNC/ Chapel Hill, and an MFA from the Warren Wilson MFA Program. She's the author of two poetry collections: Ashes, Jade, Mirrors, 2002 and Finestra's Window, winner of the 2015 Off the Grid Poetry Prize. She wishes that she could say something true and rare about poetry, but finds it beyond all telling.