Rooted and Reduced to Dust - by Ivy Raff (Paperback)

About the Book

Raff's poetry chapbook plumbs the depths of movement, of growth: from one generation to the next, from sickness to health, across continents. With fearlessness and vulnerability, she bridges the past with the heartbreaking tenderness of today.

Book Synopsis

Rooted and Reduced to Dust, Ivy Raff's debut poetry collection plumbs the depths of movement, of growth: from one generation to the next, from sickness to health, from Eastern Europe across America. The poems bridge the past with today's heartbreaking tenderness, braiding bravery and vulnerability.

"These poems are alive," writes Bruce Smith, author of seven poetry collections and finalist for a Pulitzer prize and the National Book Award. In Rooted and Reduced to Dust, Smith says, Raff's work is "lacerating, honest, an inquest, finally, into the strength of love as it is conducted through the body into the poem."

Jimmy Santiago Baca, winner of the American Book Award for poetry, calls Rooted and Reduced to Dust "observant, challenging, sensuous, glowing with an undercarriage of mystique." Baca hails the reverent physicality of Raff's poems: "[They] are torsos that twist to embrace the universe. Every muscled line is taut, knowing its desire and how to hold what it loves in its arms."

Review Quotes

"Observant, challenging, sensuous, glowing with an undercarriage of mystique, Raff's poems are torsos that twist to embrace the universe. Every muscled line is taut, knowing its desire and how to hold what it loves in its arms."

-Jimmy Santiago Baca, American Book Award-winning author of Martin and Meditations on the South Valley

"Ivy Raff writes a poetry of relentless inquiry into the past. She subjects her 'generational history of displacement' to a restorative poetic justice and joy. The investigation scrutinizes. It is lacerating, honest, an inquest, finally, into the strength of love as it is conducted through the body into the poem. I find these poems fearless in tracing the map of the journey from Jerusalem to Far Rockaway to Detroit, establishing a new place full of potential. These poems are alive."

-Bruce Smith, author of The Other Lover, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award

"Ivy Raff's powerful collection reveals complex and universal themes of love, loss, family, and yearnings. The pages of her collection conjure life's experiences with profound intimacy. Raff's insightfulness is provocative."

-Sarah Birnbach, author of A Daughter's Kaddish: My Year of Grief, Devotion, and Healing