Before We Were Born
Carol Potter
"Whether she tells of a lover's body, childhood on a farm, a separation, or a trip to
dentist, Carol Potter's concern is human mystery. Giving equal weight to inner and
outer landscapes, she evokes a woman's memories, dreams, and sensual experience. The
poems in this original first collection intimate, lyrical, quizzical, surreal. My
favorite among them have the vulnerability and eroticism of skin."
—Joan Larkin
"Potter's unflinching recollection of a harsh rural childhood full of siblings, cows,
chickens, and wonderment makes for arresting poems."
—Maxine Kumin
"I admire the power of Carol Potter's dry, dreamy, country voice, its joyful
sexuality, its insights, its understated humor. This is an odd and shrewd and most
valuable book."
—Jean Valentine
about the author
Carol Potter was born and raised in northwestern Connecticut. She
received her B.A. in English/Journalism and her M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst. She currently teaches at Holyoke Community College and lives in
Amherst, Massachusetts with her two daughters.
Carol is the author of Before We Were Born (Alice James
Books,1990) and Upside Down in the Dark (Alice James Books, 1995). Her poems have
appeared in The Iowa Review, American Poetry Review, Massachusetts Review,
Sojourner, Field, and others. Her work has also been anthologized in the Anthology
of Magazine Verse & Yearbook of American Poetry, and in the 1986
Annual Survey of American Poetry. She was the recipient of The Tom AcAfee
Discovery Award from The Missouri Review in 1985 and the 1990 New Letters Award for
Poetry.
Author photo by Jan Freeman
two poems from before we were born
