By Stone and Needle
Poems
Published on 1. July 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
128 pages
978-0-8071-8507-0 (ISBN)
Description
Winner of the 2025 L. E. Phillabaum Poetry Award
Shimmering to the pulse of the unseen, By Stone and Needle circles like a compass needle around the figure of the witch. Catherine Carter concocts a book of secular spells and incantations for engaging with, and meditating upon, a world in which all things are connected, in which symbol slides into literal, spirituality into science, exact observation into lamentation and love.
The poems in By Stone and Needle spin connecting threads between night sweats, witch drownings, creation stories, pedicures, goddesses-and, especially, between miraculously interconnected ecosystems and the forces that threaten them. Speakers encompass personae including lactobacilli bacteria, bodily yeasts, and the classical witch Medea, while elsewhere a contemporary version of the goddess Artemis appears in Appalachia. Carter's poetic vision imbues everyday moments such as putting on a coat, piercing an ear, confronting racism and patriarchy, or eating onion slices with a new definition of magic as "the human thing."
Shimmering to the pulse of the unseen, By Stone and Needle circles like a compass needle around the figure of the witch. Catherine Carter concocts a book of secular spells and incantations for engaging with, and meditating upon, a world in which all things are connected, in which symbol slides into literal, spirituality into science, exact observation into lamentation and love.
The poems in By Stone and Needle spin connecting threads between night sweats, witch drownings, creation stories, pedicures, goddesses-and, especially, between miraculously interconnected ecosystems and the forces that threaten them. Speakers encompass personae including lactobacilli bacteria, bodily yeasts, and the classical witch Medea, while elsewhere a contemporary version of the goddess Artemis appears in Appalachia. Carter's poetic vision imbues everyday moments such as putting on a coat, piercing an ear, confronting racism and patriarchy, or eating onion slices with a new definition of magic as "the human thing."
Reviews / Votes
"In these superb poems, Catherine Carter reveals another world, centered in nature, with a visual and verbal attentiveness that feels not so much observed as conjured, summoned in all its richness and mystery. As much as I admire Carter's previous volumes, By Stone and Needle takes her poetry to a greater and singular level of craft and insight. Brilliant." - Ron RashMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Baton Rouge
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 7 mm
Weight
198 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8071-8507-0 (9780807185070)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2025
The American University in Cairo Press
€9.49
Available for download
Person
Catherine W. Carter is the author of three previous poetry collections, most recently Larvae of the Nearest Stars, two chapbooks, and a co-translation of John Gower's Middle English poem The Lover's Confession. Her work has also appeared in Poetry magazine, Ploughshares, RHINO, and Best American Poetry.