Review describes Rouse’s book as ‘powerful’

Book critic Rob Cline praised Jen Rouse’s poetry chapbook, “Riding with Anne Sexton” in a review in The (Cedar Rapids) Gazette on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018.

Cline writes: Jennifer Rouse invokes a brilliant and troubled poet in her new collection, “Riding with Anne Sexton.” 

“This chapbook is an unflinching portrait of one grappling with mental illness,” said Rouse, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Cornell College. “The persona uses the conceit of a journey with Anne Sexton–a poet who committed suicide at age 45–as a way to examine the darkest and, perhaps, most tragic voices in the persona’s head. In an absence of connection and care, the confessional voice of the pieces here expresses the constant struggle of the persona trying to end her suffering, even in the face of great beauty and hope, while capturing what it’s like to remain trapped in this cycle of pain, longing, and loss.”