The Unhinging of Wings

Kimberly Fahner is the author of You Must Imagine the Cold Here.

Divided into three parts, Glass Cages, Butterfly World, and Fractal
Landscapes, this book is a celebration of Margo Button’s son, Randall,
who struggled with schizophrenia and died at the age of 26.

The “unhinging” cited in the title and elsewhere refers to the
mental and emotional toll of schizophrenia, both on its victims and on
the people who love them. The poet speaks of the “hidden chaos” that
“lurked in his brain,” and of the “Angelic choirs that sing / in
the convoluted circuits of his mind.” In “Spring’s End,” she
mourns the loss of her son: “once / a silent hand unhinged / and
opened wide my hips / the seed flowered / into perfect bloom / once.”
In “Nine Months Dead,” Button asked the wrenching question, “Once
I have clasped your small weight to my breast, / tell me, how am I to
discard you?” Suggestions of transformation and rebirth are powerfully
evoked in “Butterfly World” and reinforced by the cover photograph
(taken by the poet) of a butterfly.

These poignant and intense poems add up to a difficult but rewarding
journey.