The Ones We Have
Winner of the 2012 Flying Trout Press Chapbook Contest
“Leah Naomi Green's The Ones We Have turns a trenchant and beautifully observant eye to how we humans build our world; worlds both beautiful and dangerous, made up of the seemingly simple. A family in the Dominican Republic drinks a can of soda “not made from what was possible here,” their flickering television “taking the walls on and off of the room” (“Beningo Street: Son” and “Beningo Street: Wife”). Relationship is precious in Green’s vision, and hard won: “The way that wasps make nests/ we are making love: slowly/ unmistakably, and by instinct, using/ whatever we land on” (“Nest”). These poems, their lyric intensity and tender power, will change the way you look at the smallest stuff of your life, and give you a vocabulary for saying, This life is never easy, but it is always worth it.”
-Suzanne Paola
Purchase the book at:
Books & Co, located at 29 W. Nelson St., Lexington, VA 24450