Description
Book SynopsisThe Law of Conservation is a poetry collection intensely attuned to landscape, both geographic and metaphorical.
Borders blurred as cities cede to rural land; the body as a changing place on an equally unstable map; the subsoil of sexuality; the terrain of memory, both rich and painful; new countries traveled and new roots set down as an adult, navigating desire, loneliness, and love.
In the context of gender and sexual identity, Spada’s work pays subtle, incisive attention to the inextricable relationship between transformation and conservation: transformation toward the experience of honoring and protecting our deepest and most abiding truths. At the same time, her poems also unsparingly explore the external shifts (in the speaker’s surroundings and even her memories) that make it so challenging to retain an unassailable sense of self.
Trade Review"Mariana Spada's eye—always taking in surprising scenes from unforeseeable angles—sees crystal clear in the English of Robin Myers, who is quickly becoming one of the great poet-translators of her generation." —Kit Schluter, author of Pierrot's Fingernails
"Argentine poet Mariana Spada's debut collection, which originally appeared in Spanish, situates speakers in verdant surroundings, brightly evocative of sultry summer afternoons... Robin Myers's English translations are acoustically rich." —Diego Báez, Poetry Foundation
