In A Dangerous Heaven, Jo Angela Edwins explores the precarious relationships between womanhood and religion. Edwins takes her reader on an intricate, beautifully scripted poetic journey that blends historic literature, Page 238 →scientific beauty, and the emotional depth and breadth of being a woman confronting the large, often overwhelming, details of life. Scattered throughout the collection are poems that focus on biblical women. In “Eve,” “Magdalene,” “Bathsheba,” “Mary,” and “Leah, Rachel, and Dinah,” Edwins rips through the fabric of the patriarchal system so well documented in the Bible. Each poem poignantly exposes the underbelly of Christianity and the prescribed roles of subservient, silent women. Edwins recasts these women and gives them a voice where none previously exists. With that voice comes power, and readers can better see how women have an impact in this “beautifully flawed world.”

Although representations of biblical women tether the collection together, there are also poems that explore the modern woman’s relationship with religion. One of the most notable is “An American Woman Steps Inside an 800-Year-Old Church.” Here, Edwins masterfully depicts the discomfort of a woman visiting a church that she knows was not built for her to visit. The vibrant descriptions of the church, with its “smells of beeswax/and moldering Latin” and “chalky holy water,” allow the reader to immerse themselves into the scene. By triggering our senses, Edwins allows us to truly feel what the woman in the poem feels—unease, “like a minor demon,” with a deep sense of grief.

Edwins plays on our emotions throughout her collection, and not just with grief. Pain, loss, anger, joy, forgiveness, acceptance—Edwins explores them all. “Parents” navigates the loss of mothers and fathers and the depth of emotion that comes with those experiences. In “For Newton, For Townville” and “Calhoun,” Edwins exposes the tragedy of American gun violence as she explores not only school shootings but also the Mother Emanuel Church killings in Charleston. She speaks on war and violence against children in “The Children Have Stopped Crying.” She navigates the hurt we feel when betrayed by those we love the most in “That Hurt.” With each of these poems, Edwins helps us understand the complicated feelings that arise from the real-world situations to which many of us have become unwittingly apathetic. She brings it all to the forefront and does so in a spiritual, self-reflective way. Although many of these poems do not explicitly refer to religion, there is an undercurrent of the fragility of faith throughout each.

In “This Year,” an especially powerful poem, Edwins discusses both the sexualization of women and the violence enacted on them—a crude Halloween decoration, women being murdered, a grandmother “hunched in a ditch,” the “sunken in shallow graves” of brutalized women, a woman decaying in a field. After documenting these atrocities, Edwins writes, “And people Page 239 →wonder still/why we tell sad women’s stories.” These stories need to be told because of everything exposed in this collection. The sad stories will continue until society truly invests in the safety and security of women. Meanwhile, women can only do what Edwins advises: “Ask the people to sit down” and listen to our stories. The hope is that empathy will follow. Although, as Edwins reveals, empathy seems quite difficult to come by, especially when combining religious practice with women’s human rights.

In A Dangerous Heaven, Jo Angela Edwins demonstrates a masterful control of language and poetic form. She illustrates the experiences of women and affects the reader’s heart, causing them to contemplate not only the complex structures that drive the daily narratives of power, grief, misogyny, and self-worth but also the myriad ways women respond to these structures. Although the themes offered in the collection can be heavy to the heart, the ways in which Edwins presents them are breathtaking and powerful. With this collection, Edwins herself stands as a truly remarkable example of why women’s voices are both strong and needed.

Natalie S. Mahaffey, Central Carolina Technical College