Climacteric

Climacteric
noun
1.
a critical period or event.
"the first major climacteric in twenty-first-century poetry"
2.
MEDICINE
the period of life when fertility is in decline; (in women) menopause.
"most women do not experience significant psychological problems at the climacteric"

"our hair
is coming out in clumps; we are sweeping
it from corners, from beneath the bed,

gathering it into our sleepless nest"

How can we love ourselves at the climacteric of our lives; of the planet?
Jo Bratten's debut poetry chapbook bubbles with anger and guilt at the failures of both spirit and body and a coming to terms with loss, for the natural passing of loved ones, and the unnatural passing of our planet's ecosystems. These poems offer solace: you are not alone - "In the fractured dark we're all doomscrolling/before dawn, lit up like Caravaggios." They offer the simplest kind of love: the joy that can be found within nature.