The Sweating Sickness: Poems

by Rebecca Lehmann

Rebecca Lehmann’s The Sweating Sickness contains wide-ranging topics—the suicide of an abusive ex, parenting young children, fairy tales, reproductive rights, domestic violence, ghost stories, ancient myth—all set to the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both personal and political, these poems interrogate how we grieve, what it means to be a woman in post-Roe America, and how private and public ghosts can come back to haunt us. Surrealist, maximalist, formal, and with an ear to the underworld, The Sweating Sickness spins the reader into an eco-fabulist wonderland, where anything can happen, and does.

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 11, 2025

About the author

Rebecca Lehmann is an award-winning poet and essayist. She has an MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Maytag Fellow. She is the author of three collections of poetry: Between the Crackups; Ringer, winner of the AWP Donald Hall Prize (selected by Ross Gay); and The Sweating Sickness. Her writing has appeared in American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, NPR’s The Slowdown, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day. She lives in Indiana with her family, where she is an associate professor of English and Gender and Women’s Studies at Saint Mary’s College. The Beheading Game is her debut novel.

Reviews

[Taylor Franson-Thiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought to myself: maybe I’m read for covid poems. Turns out I’m actually just ready for these ones and everyone else can stop writing them. Genuinely such an enjoyable and fun energetic collection. Really well crafted. Obviously not just covid poems. Other stuff too: also great.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed reading these and found them to be an enchanting look into Rebecca's mind and life. Some sweet, some haunting, and some poignant.

[Wisconsin Alumni]

Rebecca Lehmann ’03
Author

From the author:
Rebecca Lehmann’s The Sweating Sickness contains wide-ranging topics—the suicide of an abusive ex, parenting young children, fairy tales, reproductive rights, domestic violence, ghost stories, ancient myth—all set to the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both personal and political, these poems interrogate how we grieve, what it means to be a woman in post-Roe America, and how private and public ghosts can come back to haunt us. Surrealist, maximalist, formal, and with an ear to the underworld, The Sweating Sickness spins the reader into an eco-fabulist wonderland, where anything can happen, and does.

[Deb Zich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulous collection of poetry split into three distinct sections; Beginning, Middle, and End. The 'Beginning' and 'Middle' feature two of my favorite poems; A Dozen Sons and A Dozen Daughters.
Throughout this collection the author addresses timely and personal topics like the pandemic, parenting, suicide, and abortion.
In the 'End' she hints at future tales to be forthcoming with haunting poetry about Anne Boylen.

[Carina Stopenski · Rating 3 out of 5]

i feel like i would have enjoyed this more if i had children. just didn’t really feel a universal pull with this one.