Wow...this is a stunning collection of poems. Path of Totality is about the complex experience and emotions following the loss of a child. Pollari highlights the depths of grief, the absurdity surrounding aspects of pregnancy loss (ie the medical bills), and the pain in moving forward from such a loss. This collection made me feel all of the feelings in the best way possible. I am so thankful that I received an e-ARC of this collection.

In Niina Pollari’s “Path of Totality,” grief is, as the title suggests, total and unsparing. The book itself is the black drag of grief, the aftereffect of a child leaving the earth well before their time. The poems are pure and eviscerating, even to a reader like me who has never undergone that particular pain.

Pollari executes the lyricism of grief deftly; these poems about grief are also poems about New York geography, about coffee shops. Even as she warns the reader to bite back their questions in the poem “White Blood Cells,” there’s still that undercurrent of pleading with the reader to acknowledge that loss in the same poem: “Before you say anything, I can feel your question leaving your body and coming toward me like an odor that you release. It walks up to my door. It kicks over my talisman with its soft feet.” And then: “I practice saying “Yes, I have a daughter.” But when I open my mouth, something else starts to come out. I suck it back in. I hope nobody will ever ask, but then I hope someone asks. I hope more than anything.”

Other readers have already pointed to Pollari’s generosity in sharing her experience and letting the reader inside an incredibly devastating chapter of her life, but I will reiterate it. These poems are raw, a live wire in the best, most heartbreaking way. This was my first time reading anything by Pollari, but rest assured, it will not be the last.

Touching, heartbreaking, beautiful poems.
These words were moving and I could feel the grief through the words.

I know I am biased, as a bereaved mother, reading this book written by another bereaved mother. But Pollari puts into words many feelings I was never able to express, or things I expressed only to myself, or maybe to those absolutely closest to me and my son. Reading her poems pressed on a wound that is a bit older now, and the fact that the pain still sings out and brings tears is both crushing and also the most reassuring feeling. It has been a while since I connected in this way with something written about the experience of losing a child. I am heartbroken that the author must also live with this, but I deeply appreciate her ability to write so beautifully about something so devastating, and to make some of us feel a bit more understood.

As a librarian, I do not often buy books for myself. I am proud to say I have preordered this one, and look forward to rereading the hard copy.

These poem are really moving. The prose is entrenched in heartbreak, loss, and renewal of spirit. I really love them.