There Will Be Blood and I Will Tell You, Put Your Hand Down Here

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta. He is
the author of Calling Texas, Earth Prime, and Mind the Gap.

This entry in the Palm Poets series is a full-length book in spite of it
compact dimensions. Beth Everest writes powerful, concise poems about
childhood, pregnancy, parturition, and motherhood. The body, as her
title implies, is central in these pages. No sentimentality here, but
lots of drama and strong emotion.

Each poem is a compressed scene delineated with strong images. The
pacing of lines—and pauses within lines—recreates breathless
experience. The views of a Jasper, Alberta, childhood are a little more
reflective than the visceral poems about gestation and childbirth, but
they too arouse empathy in the reader. The poet has pondered her
relationship with her parents in the light of her own parenthood and has
wisdom to impart.