Sweetened Condensed
I could have filled
the world
with all that milk
Sweetened Condensed is two parts sugar, three parts milk: the life of a writer and mother encapsulated into raw moments of lyrical free verse with the author's black and white photography. Cover art by Polly McCann.
Rebecca Grabill's first collection of poetry, published by Flying Ketchup Press, brings her readers home to rural Michigan and into the world of a woman on the path less traveled—wife, daughter, teacher, author, and mother of six.
Praise for Sweetened Condensed
I read Sweetened Condensed in one big gulp. This lovely peek into the family life of a mother who can look back at her own difficult childhood while providing her brood of six, with the help of her constant husband, with all the love and care they need. This is not a saccharine swig, but full-body, rich mouthful of poems and pictures that show the deep truth of family.
—Mary Logue, author of Sleep Like a Tiger
A quick look at Rebecca Grabill’s Sweetened Condensed promises not just poems about shopping at Goodwill and an age-chapped barn, but also turkey sex and a child carried away by a balloon. I loved the easy, outright affection in poem after poem. Each one is written with a skill that never calls attention to itself but is there on every page.
—Ron Koertge, author of Olympusville
Rebecca Grabill‘s tender poems are shot through with a bracing dose of realism — she’s not scared to peek into the shadows at the edges of motherhood’s sunnier moments. Beautifully illustrated with her black and white photos, the poems often surprise, frequently delight, and always satisfy.
—Caroline Grant, co-founder, Sustainable Arts Foundation
I’m violating my own risk aversion, my own dislike of wasting hours on a bad book (whatever that means) by suggesting this: if your book group wants to branch out, try poetry! And I suggest you try my new book, Sweetened Condensed, which I consider almost un-poetry, because it’s accessible, never once mentions Plato or Sophocles, and I hope is also relatable.