Books & Books is proud to present an evening with Mary Block discussing Love from the Outer Bands.
Block’s expert use of form, structure and prosody presents motherhood as construct, as commentary, as conscience, and as love, in its most concrete form. These are not sentimental poems, yet they provide succor and sustenance, the sort of lullaby everyone needs.
***Please note this event will take place at our Coral Gables location (265 Aragon Ave). Tickets are FREE and books will be available for purchase the night of the event. Can't make the event or want your copy early? Buy here.
About the Book:
Mary Block’s debut book of poetry, Love from the Outer Bands is a celebration of motherhood that ditches saccharine verse in favor of clear-eyed poems that belie the trope of the selfless mother. Clearly, these sharp-witted, emotionally resonant poems have a very prominent self who lays bare the weight of motherhood while dispelling the myth of the martyr. Block’s expert use of form, structure and prosody presents motherhood as construct, as commentary, as conscience, and as love, in its most concrete form. These are not sentimental poems, yet they provide succor and sustenance, the sort of lullaby everyone needs.—Caridad Moro-Gronlier, author of Tortillera
About the Author:
Mary Block is the author of Love from the Outer Bands (The Word Works, 2025). Her poems have appeared in Best New Poets 2020, RHINO, Nimrod International Journal, Sonora Review, Rattle, SWWIM Every Day, Aquifer—The Florida Review Online, and elsewhere. She is a graduate of New York University's Creative Writing Program, a 2018 Best of the Net finalist, a 2012 finalist for the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, and a Pushcart Prize nominee. Mary lives in her hometown of Miami, Florida with her family. She is an editor at SWWIM.
