Divinity School (book of Alicia’s poetry)

“The poet wants to know what happened next. After the flood subsides, when the world grew back, in the place of dials and switches, inside the constraints of earthly time where faces crack, flesh sags and fish stink. She understands that conflict is easier than kindness.”—from the introduction by C.D. Wright

Divinity School, winner of the prestigious Honickman First Book Award from the American Poetry Review, is a wide-ranging exploration of spirituality, sex, travel, food, holy texts, and coming of age. Poet Alicia Jo Rabins brings a searing eye for surreal beauty in everyday life with a deep knowledge of wisdom literature, and creates a modern manual for living, a fearless investigation of how we learn to live in a human body both prism and flesh.

How to Tell Time

Now,
like manna,
is perfectly
sufficient
and will rot
if stored.