Marlys West

The Vital Function of Constant Narrative is a collection of poems that acts as both memoir and mystery. Each poem is a short meditation on what it means to make up a sense of self. Our roles, our world, and our personal histories create much of who we are and what we think of as our story. These poems expose reality in all of its multicolored arrays, weaving together adulthood and childhood, hospital and home, birds and flowers, blood and bones. The book is at once light and dense, profound and playful.