Winner, 2015 New Mexico Book Award, PoetryCurrent Finalist, Lambda Literary Award, Lesbian Poetry Longlist Finalist, Julie Suk AwardOver the Rainbow selection, American Library Association A biography-in-poems of Georgia O'Keeffe, interwoven with the poet's lyric accounts of a solitary month in a primitive desert cabin. A narrative-drivencollection that reads like a novel, this book delves into issues of creativity,feminism, and relationships, while exploring turn-of-thelast century New York City and the New Mexico highdesert of the 1930s and today. "Georgia O'Keeffe's remarkable life and work inspired this poetic meditation on everything from the pleasures and pains of love to the transformations that time works on an individual. And just as the artist distilled the essence of her subject matter, abstracting from flowers and bones, landscapes and clouds, a vivid story of her walk in the sun, so Jessica Jacobs discovers a vibrant music rooted in portraiture. 'How little it takes/ to make home unfamiliar,' she writes. And home in this stunning book turns out to be the entire universe. Make yourself comfortable. There is so much to taste and see."--Christopher Merrill, Necessities and From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe as Icon "In her eloquent poems, Jessica Jacobs artfully intertwines her own voice with Georgia O'Keeffe's words in this poet's exploration of the painter's sensitivity, aesthetics, character, and courage."--Laurie Lisle, Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe “A sensuous homage to Georgia O’Keeffe, the patron saint of the American Southwest, and her relationship with photographer Alfred Stieglitz.”—Sarah Meyer, O, The Oprah Magazine "What is often called 'inspiration' in art is, more accurately, obsession: it is what gives life to language, as Jessica Jacobs' obsession with the artist Georgia O'Keeffe makes these pages breathe and O'Keeffe a living voice and presence. Interwoven with these sharply incised, vibrant, and painstakingly researched poems are lyric prose accounts of the author's own time alone in the desert, drawing these poems and a deepened awareness out of this accompanied solitude."--Eleanor Wilner, Reversing the Spell: New and Selected Poems “Artists and writers share many things, including a passion for observing and detailing the natural world. In this wonderful debut collection, Jacobs crafts a portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe and the striking landscapes she pained. The poet intertwines two story lines—journal entries set in contemporary New Mexico and letters between O’Keeffe and her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz—each thread reverberating with the other as they dwell on themes of love, solitude, and creativity. In a combination of lyric poetry and prose entries, Jacobs masterfully describes the setting: “I walk barefoot in the riverbed. The dry/ sand is peppery and coarse.” Not even bird song goes unnoticed, “each strand tied back to its singer// audible troughs of air. . .displaced by the wingbeats/ of low-flying/ hawks.” Jacobs vivifies both desert landscapes and New York City, where O’Keeffe first met Stieglitz, but she does more than describe how the vistas look, delving deeply and making philosophical connections: “A door// is everything a painting/ wants to be. Portal, promise.” . . . VERDICT An outstanding collection that focuses on art and biography, anchored by a rich sense of place.— Doris Lynch, Library Journal Jessica Jacobs grew up in Central Florida and has since lived in San Francisco and New York, with stints in Indiana and Arkansas along the way. Her work has appeared in  Beloit Poetry Journal, Cave Wall, Iron Horse, The Missouri Review, Poet Lore,  and Rattle, among other journals and anthologies. She holds a B.A. from Smith College and an M.F.A. from Purdue University. An avid long-distance runner, Jessica has worked as a rock climbing instructor, bartender, textbook Acquisitions Editor, Editor-in-Chief of  Sycamore Review , and now as a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Hendrix College. She lives in Little Rock, AR with her wife, the poet Nickole Brown. Pelvis With Distance  is her debut collection.