Fragile Bones, Fierce Heart

Lisa Shulman’s collection of poems. Fragile Bones, Fierce Heart, is exquisite. If there were two words to describe it, they would be fearless beauty. The poems are a testament to the fact that even though we are in times of great political upheaval, climate crises and violence at home and abroad, if we step back and look, really look, we will always find that glimmer of hope behind a curtain of despair that many of us are feeling. And that is the gift that Lisa Shulman leaves us with, the beauty and hope that allow us to remember our resilience and resistance.

–Margo Perin, author of Plexiglass and The Opposite of Hollywood

From the first poem I read of Lisa Shulman’s, I wanted to see more. This poem, “What I Teach 3rd Graders,” is remarkable in its heartbreaking simplicity, and is a powerful introduction to her chapbook, Fragile Bones, Fierce Heart.

In this collection, we are exposed to poems that defy our expectations. We are invited to see beyond the obvious to realms we had not known, only to see that Lisa has opened our eyes to witness the power and the beauty of our everyday experiences – both real and mythic. She creates a host of “what if” observations. In “Las Posadas,” for example, we read, “What if Mary was Maria / trudging through the desert / pregnant and far from home?” Or we move from the familiar images of “Drought” to children “dressed in ashflakes,” their eyes “flat dry stones.”

Fragile Bones, Fierce Heart is a treasure trove of poems that invite multiple readings, enticing you over and over again.

–Fran Claggett-Holland, Poet, teacher, educational consultant

In Fragile Bones, Fierce Heart you will hear Lisa Shulman‘s voice chime as she bears witness to the extraordinary ordinary. Each of the poems in this powerful collection are consequential lessons. Some are taken from the headlines displaying the predicaments of being human. The poet’s voice is a gentle one. She writes:

“sometimes from fragments

of feathers and shell, crackling leaves

someone fashions a poem

a prayer, a song.”

Poems of fragility and strength are within these pages. Together these themes offer a meditation.

–Les Bernstein, Author