"Nicole Dalcourt's debut collection arrives like a hand extended in the dark: steady, unflinching, and impossibly human. These are poems that walk us through grief and fracture, through the tender wreckage of childhood shadows and a marriage unraveling, and yet they never collapse beneath their own weight. Instead, they rise. Dalcourt doesn't shy away from pain, but she also doesn't leave us there. In every page, there's a reminder that grief can make room for tenderness, that endings can clear the ground for love, that even when we feel broken, there is still a chance to come through luminous."

-Allison Bothley, Editor and Publisher of Bangs Literary Zine

"Nicole Dalcourt has written a dazzling reflection on loss, grief, and the surviving that comes after. Full of poignant and evocative language, these poems will hold your hand tenderly across a river of grief only to emerge at the other side, just as the first light of dawn begins to break."

--Ollie Schminkey, author of Dead Dad Jokes and Where I Dry the Flowers

With lines like 'I am a switchblade of truth', Nicole Dalcourt slices to the heart of this collection's raw, vivid emotions. Prepare to be moved by her fearless journey through loss and the fierce resilience she uncovers. The declaration, 'I carve my name into the floor - just to prove that I exist', resonates with a defiant spirit that, for me, culminated in a powerful sense of hope.

- James Morehead, Poet Laureate Emeritus - Dublin, CA

"Soulful. Fresh. Elemental. Nicole's work is filled with depth, strength, embodiment and tenderness as she explores the terrain of being a woman moving through this world, walking the beautiful line of both exquisite sensitivity and learned confidence, all while drawing you in with rhythm and a felt compassion for our shared humanity."

- Victoria Erikson, Author of Edge of Wonder and Rhythms & Roads