Little Envelope of Earth Conditions

by Cori A. Winrock

Poems dive straight into the depths of mental illness and depression, evoking intense grief and pain. Heavy space imagery is paired with streams of consciousness, trying to come to terms with loss but feeling like you’re floating through a surreal world like an astronaut on a different planet.

Genres: Poetry

100 pages, Paperback

First published January 14, 2020

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up at the library because the cover intrigued me. As it turned out, this collection didn’t speak to my heart but it was an interesting experience of perseveration on certain images and concepts, including a space suit, wedding dress, sewing, ambulance, medical imaging, embryos, and grieving. Overall, I found the tone to be too cool and the approach more conceptional than what I want in poetry about grief. One of my favorite passages is from “Polaroid Ode” where she writes, “Tell me who was in our living room / to capture this instant, whose hand / was shaking us into existence.”

[Joe Sacksteder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Particularly moved at this weird time by the lines in the final poem: "In the lake, always the dead // saying: quarantine / the inconsolable." Gorgeous book. Especially loved "A Daughter Drafts a Letter from Earth: Departure," "Buzz Aldrin's First Words on the Moon as Elegy" (with heavy Salt Lake City vibes), "Eulogy," "Aubade for Future Resurrection," "A Daughter Sends the Stenographer..." (the multicursoral, polyphonic aspect), and "Polaroid Ode."

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection, full of ambulances & spacesuits & wrists & does & winter practically sings: both an expression of the hazy fog-world we inhabit as we grief & the sharp, visceral moments pulled abruptly into color as we remember. For anyone looking for an amazing lyrical poetry collection from an insanely talented poet: this is one for you.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A melancholy book dealing with loss with lyrical language that uses the imagery of floating alone in space and sewing. As the book unwinds slowly around themes of ambulances, twins, maternal lineages, houses, it is slowly revealed that a mother and daughter were lost. The book is a bit too beautiful to be so sad as well, a weird juxtaposition.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This kind of poetry is just not my vibe.

[Anna Leahy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a wonderful collection. Surprises and also recurrences. I adore all the space stuff woven in. This book had me thinking and feeling.

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poems that weave space and related imagery into many themes: loss, life, grief.

from Love Poem in a Time of Ambulances: "Wait for my temperature to rise. / For you to come press your wrist against my wrist / to see if my pulse is still / tucked inside."

from When Her Hands are Stolen Through a Left-Open Window: "Not yet my language of remorse // & desert heat. Not yet the words of grief / of binds / of knives & eye- / hooks we learn to swallow."