bThis book-length sequence by the critically acclaimed poet is a seeker's story, revealing personal and historical traumas and how we search for understanding and meaning in their wake.b pIn iAsylum, ipoet Jill Bialosky embarks on a Virgilian journey, building a narrative sequence from 103 elegant poems and prose sections that cohere in their intensity and their need to explore darkness and sustenance both. pTaken together, these piercing pieces--about her nascent calling as a writer her sister's suicide and its still unfolding aftermath the horror unleashed by World War II the life cycle of the monarch butterfly and the woods where she seeks asylum--form a moving story, powerfully braiding despair, survival, and hope. Bialosky considers the oppositions that govern us our reason and unreason, our need to preserve and destruct. What are words when they meet the action of what they attempt to modify she asks, exploring the possible salve of language in the face of pain and grief. pWhat i