Blue Flame

Through a series of opaquely confessional reveries, Pettit’s second collection (after Goat in the Snow) speaks of loss, vulnerability, and adaptation. While exploring societal validation, self-destruction, and the limitations of compassion, Pettit’s focus fluctuates alongside her formal and stylistic choices, oscillating between candid prose and abstraction. Her best lines are subtly emphatic and empathic, such as when she describes living functionally in society as the ability to “determine nothing and move forward,” acknowledging those considered “dysfunctional” as disciples of truth, and those considered “functional” as disciples of logic. Her most evocative work combines visceral expression with incisive metaphor, as when she explores the nature of emotional rebirth: “What makes the breakdown taste like this?/ Your bones are new every eight years.” At times, Pettit’s metaphors can take perplexing turns, alienating the reader: “You think about how you are holding/ your hands. Just remember, someone/ really loves forks. I describe the fool that falls./ I have a thing, thing. I like things like that.” Kinetic, vulnerable, and unapologetic, Pettit delivers a book that, although enigmatic at times, inspires catharsis and self-acceptance. (Feb.)