Chamber after Chamber

by Saara Myrene 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.

65 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2024

About the author

Saara Myrene Raappana is the author of the chapbook Milk Tooth, Levee, Fever (Dancing Girl Press, 2015) and A Story of America Goes Walking (Shechem Press). Her poems have appeared in such publications as 32 Poems, Harvard Review, Here: Women Writing on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, The Gettysburg Review, The Way North: Collected Upper Peninsula New Works, Verse Daily, and elsewhere. Born and raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in southern China and currently lives in windy southwestern Minnesota with her husband. She likes animals, kropsua, ice fishing, and puns.

Reviews

[Eric Doise · Rating 5 out of 5]

A meditation on “heart” in all its meetings, this book explores what it means to be stuck in a place, what it means to finally leave it, and the paradox that doing so means both newly discovering oneself and also losing part of oneself in that leaving and discovery. Told in a loose narrative over three sections, the book focuses on relationships between women, the beauty and violence of nature, and the dysfunction but also community of the rural. It’s rich in imagery and full of linguistic whimsy. Stylistically, it experiments in form but in a way that’s accessible. The book offers the best of both worlds: individual poems that take your breath away but also work together to form a sum bigger than the parts.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gorgeous poetry collection! These poems are stunning, and like no other poems I've ever read. Truly original language and imagery, interesting and unique forms, and incredible heart. love love love this book.

[Emily Baumgarn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read Chamber After Chamber about 5 times now and keep finding more to love. Saara Raappana is a brilliant writer. I haven’t read much poetry in general but this isn’t just my favorite poetry book, but one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. Cannot recommend enough.

[Amanda Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saara Myrene Raappana is a gorgeous writer. I’ve found it hard to understand other poetry, but this is so accessible. You really become attached to the characters and emotionally involved in their life journey. I laughed, I cried, and it warmed my heart. Definitely recommend!

[Michelle Stelmaszek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this beautifully written book of poetry felt like home trying to both embrace and expel me at the same time. Thank you, Saara, for bringing me back to my beginning. I don’t feel as alien anymore.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible collection, a brilliant and achingly evocative meditation on friendship, family, life, death, and, perhaps more than anything, the fragile, tender, beautiful human experience. I was deeply moved and have returned to several of these pieces already.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous collection. I miss my friend.

[Amy]

Favorites poems:

--Winter Correspondence (very deft end rhyme, BTW)
--The Wolf in the Trailer, (seeking, seeking)
--My Brush (I love the various women who show up here and all their failings)
--In the Women's Hospital (vulnerability and nakedness as a foreigner)
--Elegy With Lake Effect ("I move by touch/through the blank meadow of heaven.")
--Lake Astronomy ("Our teacher said Laika the dog/flew into space and flies there still,/a star, but I knew that stars/are gas burning with particles,/and dogs are dogs that roast/or drown, pinned down/by airlessness.")

The common thread of what I'm drawn to in Raappana's poems in this volume is the specificity and intimacy in her writing of the natural world, of the speaker's memories with her cousin Kelly, and her time living in China.

[Linda Sienkiewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stunning collection, a study of the heart and all that it means to the poet. Meaty and visceral, stitched with loss and renewal.