Secondary Inspections

Secondary Inspections, Carla Rachel Sameth's first full-length poetry collection, explores the life of the mother with loss and nuance as the book's central figure simultaneously deals with a son's addiction and a mother's dementia and death. These twin trials are approached in the context of a flawed and celebrated humanity that is authentic, rewarding, and difficult. The seasons of grief also look backward on the experience of recurrent miscarriages, shining a light on the vulnerability and potential for loss inherent from the moment motherhood is first contemplated. The exposure of coming undone is very real here, as the poems say, unmoored, unspooled, unpacked, but alongside it, Sameth never turns away from the continued sense of becoming. Located in Los Angeles and beyond, the culture of place and finding home along with themes of Jewish ancestry, identity, race, and queerness are also touchstones. Secondary Inspections invites us to take a second look at what we thought we knew and shows us how things are not always what they seem-identity can be questioned, provoke danger, and leave us impacted by how others see us; the bedrock of a family can be forever shifting and we too shift along with it. Through powerful narrative and vivid imagery, Sameth's poetry travels, searches, stumbles, and ultimately, returns. Even amidst heart-staggering moments, she reveals a rich cultural life that is both within, and that is further made possible by deeply being in the places you love with the people you love.