The Hindrances of a Householder

Jennifer Bartlett writes, “a word here, a word there,” yet, somehow, never manages to write like anyone else. These poems concern themselves with the messiness of relationships and how those relationships operate in both real and fanciful worlds. Her poems comment on one another, on themselves, and on this fascinating character named Jennifer who weaves in and out of the poems. She writes about swimming pools, sex, neurology, the duality of names, and friendship. Along the way she offers no hindrances for the reader. Instead this book shows poems by a poet writing at her joyful, dizzy best. —Mike James, author of Crows in the Jukebox and My Favorite Houseguest