With good reason Ann Bookman's Blood Lines opens in perplexity and grief. A number of women in her Ashkenazi Jewish family, including the poet's mother, have died from breast or ovarian cancer. The poet herself and her own daughter have the BRCA gene mutation, giving both of them an elevated chance of developing such cancers. Often inspired by other women in her family, this poet refuses to let herself be defined by genetic fear...
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Poetry