Raappana

Chamber after Chamber is about what fractures, fixes, and refills the hearts of two girls as they grow into women. A loose narrative in three sections, the poems follow a speaker and her cousin through their hardscrabble, backwoods childhood to their separation--both physical and emotional--as adults. From the make-believe apocalypses and cut-and-paste valentines of elementary school to the stadium-seating classrooms and multiplexes of southern China, our speaker tries to leave the shame and dysfunction of her family behind. In China, she begins to see America--and herself--clearly for the first time, and in doing so discovers that both her cousin and her country are inextricably woven into

[her body] part that never sleeps the blood
and chambered meat that’s like a rock squeezed
in a fist rapping its knuckles
on the sweet door of the body.

Born and raised in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, SAARA MYRENE RAAPPANA served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Southern China before moving to southwest Minnesota. Author of two chapbooks, she has published poems in journals and anthologies. She has received grants and scholarships from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.