Poetry. In the title poem, the dying mother asks: "Will my daughter be able to come and go with impunity?" Stenhouse's ironically titled collection plays against the backdrop of this mythic riddle. Privilege is tied to punishment: two sides of the same seemingly inescapable coin. In these poems, even nature is seen through a lens of power, money, sex and addiction. These themes and others unfold in images both startling and effortless. We see a poet tackling the big questions, unsatisfied with easy answers, longing for clear borders, for definition, for love and redemption—for impunity. Stenhouse writes with clarity, humor, bravery—her fresh wisdom underscores the visceral details that allow us to see the world as if we have just landed on it.

Author City: NEW YORK, NY USA

Shelley Stenhouse won the Pavement Saw Press Award for her collection, PANTS; was a finalist for the 2009 National Poetry Series; received a New York Foundation for the Arts poetry fellowship; an Allen Ginsberg Award; two Pushcart Prize nominations, and three residencies at Yaddo Art Colony. Her poem, "AIDS," has been quoted in Poet's Market. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in The Antioch Review, Prairie Schooner, Quarterly West, Third Coast, Margie, and New York Quarterly (among others), and in Poetry After 9-11: An Anthology of New York Poets. Shelley has read on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and on several television networks: NY1, Oxygen and Manhattan Cable's Poetry Thin Air. She lives in Greenwich Village with her daughter, Daisygreen, and works one-on-one with writers.