This Imagined Permanence

""What if...?" is one of the constant themes in human life - all the choices not made, things not done, lives not lived. In This Imagined Permanence, stephens' second collection of poetry, she traces the reflections of a lesbian preoccupied by the what-ifs of existence. Poet and voyeur, philosopher and recluse, the narrator contemplates the passions and desires of women who exist as she herself cannot. Burdened by her decision to lead a life on the margins, she attempts to make other women's lives her own. A haunting investigation of the universal difficulty of reaching out, entering forbidden territory, living in a precarious world - and a magnificent sequel to hivernale, stephens' first book of poems."--BOOK JACKET.