Relationship

In her debut poetry book, Relationship, Janice Greenwood explores what it means to be in relationship-with oneself, with others, and with the world. The poems follow the course of a relationship from desire and passion, to early love, to the familiarity and companionship of a long-term relationship, to marriage, and finally through the stages of loss, breakup, divorce, and nostalgia that follow. This poetry book explores the relationship between the human and natural world, the relationship between art and poetry, the relationship we have with the past, and our relationships to things, animals, and ideas. Ultimately, Relationship is a book of poetry about self-acceptance, self-discovery, self-love, growth, healing, and the transformative power of heartbreak. In the absence of the beloved, the writer writes, the artist creates. The book is itself an art object, meant to be held, touched, seen, and felt. Styled like a medieval manuscript, with gold leaf backgrounds, natural figures, and hand-typed poetry accompanied by watercolor art by Greenwood, Relationship is an ode to the physical book and a commentary on our changing relationship to books in print. Just as a lost relationship exists in the past, so does the physical book comment upon our increasingly digitized world. Weaving together myth, medieval motif, art, and poetry, Greenwood takes her readers on a journey through love, and ultimately on a journey through hope.