What the Body Knows

What the Body Knows is a collection of poems that seeks the language of what lies deeply within the body, to listen and to name the longings, losses, and gains of a long life.

“In bygone centuries a mirror was held to the lips of a passing loved one to check for the delicate mist of life. These poems are like that mirror. To their reflecting surface clings a distillation of clarity and wisdom, precious to those who look into the glass.” —Rhoda Janzen, Author, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress and Mennonite Meets Mr. Right

“Jean Janzen addresses her treasured topics—desire, mystery, language, family and heritage, music, embodied spirituality—with confidence and grace. ‘Write it, the hunger and the song, ‘ says one poem. And she does, brilliantly. Janzen’s vision has never been clearer; her words have never confessed more truth. This book took over 80 years to write, and its final, passionate message is ‘mercy, ‘ a resounding ‘Yes.’” —Julia Spicher Kasdorf, Author, Poetry in America

“In ‘Winter Child’ Jean Janzen remembers ‘a kind of ecstasy’ from a wintry afternoon, her ‘small figure falling again and again / to make a host of angels in my own backyard.’ Steeped as they are in loss and grief, these poems may hardly seem angelic—except in their glimmering music, their wintry knowledge, and their generous wisdom. What the Body Knows is a book to savor and to treasure.” —Jeff Gundy, Author of Songs from an Empty Cage and Somewhere Near Defiance The Author: Jean Janzen, a poet living in Fresno, California, is the author of six previous collections of poetry who has received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and other awards. A graduate of Fresno Pacific University and California State University of Fresno, she has taught at Fresno Pacific and Eastern Mennonite University. What the Body Knows is volume 12 in the DreamSeeker Poetry Series released by Cascadia Publishing House LLC and follows volume 11, Momentary Stay, Barbara Esch Shisler.