As its title suggests, Catherine Arra’s (Women in Parentheses) (Kelsay Books, August 2019) situates its speakers between parentheses while guiding the reader through the author’s life. In the opening poem “Women in Parentheses,” the speaker is freed from the captivating parentheses: “Between moon-silver scythes, / a space to make one’s own … tilts hat to sun / and steps on out.” And by the end of the book, in “(           ),” the speaker’s “body grows ever more fearful / of the / (            ) / raging in her basement.” Arra “weaves herself into words” as she uses her poems to write about her life experiences, her time teaching, and her divorce. 

Poems dedicated to Arra’s time teaching appear later in the book where a piece like “Old School Tie” portrays a picket line with the hopes of believing “we’ll make a difference / but suspect this line has no end.” A devastating line like, “The sign I carry / is a war cry. I’m silent,” showcases the harsh world of picketing for rights, a pay increase, and the ability to teach. 

Arra’s poem “Root Canal” shows the speaker’s changes after divorce as “she emerges / like an amethyst / out of shattered dirt.” Arra crafts “A new narrative / without labels, husband—wife” in “After Divorce,” and sees “Muddy waters settle” and “capes, masks, and superheroes / return to Marvel Land.” What feels extraordinary becomes grounded in reality. In “Dead Letters” the speaker “can no longer read emails to Lara, my screen name,” and few people think as deeply about something as mundane as a screen name, an email address after a divorce, and remember everything the name entails. Her final stanza, “I’ll keep writing to you, Lara, / without the 62 / keep trying to make contact,” exhibits her need to recall her past. 

Arra’s prose poem “Coming Back” enters the persona of a teacher, Ms. Finn, as she cuts class: “She walked out of the classroom, down the corridor, through the main entrance, and into April.” The poem speaks to “individual responsibility and freedom in relation to Camus’ The Stranger,” which parallels what happens when Ms. Finn finds her freedom by cutting class. This suggestion of existential freedom for the women in parentheses is the book’s ultimate affirmation.

December, 2020