We're Going to Need a Higher Fence

An endangered antelope discovers, "There is no need to butcher you anymore." A stuntwoman considers ending it all. Violent swans challenge stereotypes. In We're Going to Need a Higher Fence, Jennifer MacBain-Stephens again shows her ability to immerse readers in reoccurring microcosms, whether they contain people in surreal correspondence, feather and fauna, or a buzzing-mouth monster under your bed. No matter the scene, MacBain-Stephens' imbues her cast of masks with heart and wild, unexpected lyricism. -Christopher Morgan, Co-Manager of Nostrovia! Press and author of To Breathe Deep In We're Going to Need a Higher Fence, Jennifer MacBain-Stephens presents a necropastoral that is challenged by ways of seeing: "In your torso, / my eyes radiate chartreuse / My chin lavender, / My parka disintegrates into / diamond suns. Here, fragmentation is a kind of solace, an answer that keeps rendering a hopeful speaker: Let me remain unburied, unburned." While little seems safe in this landscape of oil sealed third eyes and one winged angels, language remains crisp and clear; these poems are, to a reader, such fine offerings.--Nicole Tong, author of How to Prove a Theory