Loren Kleinman’s The Dark Cave Between My Ribs

Loren Kleinman’s The Dark Cave Between My Ribs is what remains when darkness violently transmutes into absolute beauty.

The writer cracks her rib cage open and exposes herself in such a way that we might find ourselves wondering why these pages aren’t stained with blood.

Kleinman’s book tells a story that doesn’t ask to be forgiven. It is ruthless and raw, and doesn’t simply explore the human condition; it lays it open like a patient on a table. She acts as a surgeon, cutting away the various cancers of life that consume us, to expose the beauty buried deep inside a victim of rape, a child of an alcoholic, and lover left alone. This book reminds us that we are human, that we bleed and that it’s okay to bleed.

If all art should speak then Kleinman’s book is a guttural scream into the darkness which allows us to see that small ray of light.

A stunning book of poetry.