What Is Otherwise Infinite

Author: Bianca Stone

Publisher: Tin House (2022)

Written in four divs with incisive and vivid language, Bianca Stone’s What is Otherwise Infinite considers how we find our place in the world through themes of philosophy, religion, environment, myth, and addiction. “Some days,” writes Stone, “I get up to go for a run / but instead just sit in spandex / and write about the fog.”

Populated by Archangels, limping in paradise; by allergies of the soul; a daughter’s cut fingernails; psychic wounds; and dirty, dirty chocolate layer cake, Stone’s is a collection that deftly examines our inherent and inherited ideas of how to live, and the experience of the Self—which on one hand is so intensely personal, and on the other, universal.

"Combines sharp-witted philosophizing with breathtaking honest reflections of the self."

–The Poetry Question

"Stone’s poems reframe the search for meaning by addressing the self-care and self-perfection complex. Because even though it’s natural to want to 'fix' our lives—sometimes obsessing over our lives can work against us."

–NPR Morning Edition

"Poems that bounce off ordinary moments to attain something extraordinary."

–The Washington Post