The notion of exchange circulates throughout Kristi Maxwell's
superlative second collection of poetry, Hush Sessions. In a series of
utterly unique poetic experiences, things transform or transfer:
superstition becomes science, and bodies become texts to read. In
addition, family mythologies become sites of substitution and a
borderland where irrationality and rationalization touch. Kristi
Maxwell's poetry reminds us that words, like objects, do not exist in a
singular state, and their multiplicity is activated through perception:
"a veil during/ the trying on rather than the pride of/ the dress." As
Fanny Howe says, Maxwell's poems "have pure, ephemeral lines that
suggest much thought about time and utterance, yet they float free
without any need for explanation."