In Cleave (vb: 1. to adhere firmly & closely, loyally & unwaveringly / 2. to divide by or as if by a cutting blow: split), Darla Himeles writes a path of transformation. In vivid, attentive poems that explore early trauma, various meanings & makings of home, & the struggle to conceive, Cleave offers songs of survival, forgiveness, familial & lesbian love, & being "alive & determined to live all the way to the unfathomable depths / I once called abyss."

In Cleave (vb: 1. to adhere firmly & closely, loyally & unwaveringly / 2. to divide by or as if by a cutting blow: split), Darla Himeles writes a path of transformation. In vivid, attentive poems that explore early trauma, various meanings & makings of home, & the struggle to conceive, Cleave offers songs of survival, forgiveness, familial & lesbian love, & being "alive & determined to live all the way to the unfathomable depths / I once called abyss."