The Bones That Map Us

The Bones That Map Us embodies an intimate yet understated world of grief. Confronted with the erasure of a family history, the speaker gradually fills in the cracks with her own love story. Throughout this chapbook, Maggie Rue Hess demonstrates how we can reshape our origins while loving— and forgiving— their original source.

Maggie Rue Hess is a PhD student living in Knoxville, Tennessee, with her partner and their two crusty white dogs. Her work has appeared in Rattle, Minnesota Review, Connecticut River Review, and other publications; The Bones That Map Us is her debut chapbook. She serves as a poetry reader and Managing Editor for Online Content for Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts. Maggie gets her stubbornness from both sides of her family and shares baked goods to show love; she has a surprising competitive side and her mom's crooked front teeth.