Ashley Cline
ISBN: 978-1-949099-14-0
41 pages


"This book unmade me like only something feral can. There is yearning in these pages and music, too. There is something powerful about the way that space becomes a metaphor for longing, the hunger of the imagery, and how the jaw sings a love poem so sweetly. This book held me tenderly like only moon light can and reminded me of how heavy our ghosts can be."

— jd hegarty, author of the clearest blue

"& watch how easily the jaw sings of god is an astonishing linguistic invention. Every word Cline writes snatches your breath away as you are faced with her staggering creativity. She is so completely unique as a writer and an artist, crafting entire worlds within her sentences. This work really is a beautiful thing."

— Imogen Stirling, author of Love the Sinner

"There's a certain energy that & watch how easily the jaw sings of god lets flow out to its reader; warm to the soul, that's how I would describe it. The words all weave together, and take you inward, to reflect on your heart's yearning. It's a beautiful collection that really shows off Cline's voice and style."

— jqp, author of april

"& watch how easily the jaw sings of god embodies the hard-won verse, heat lost & held in the loamy soil, the hair standing on the back of your neck from the cold or an idea you had. Longing without self-pity, these poems make the pursuit of what never was sound nothing less than noble."

— James Cuartero

"What can you say about a collection of poems that doesn't lead you to the expected? For Cline, language is a rollercoaster; it turns you, drops you, and when you return, it's with a new understanding of gravity. This chapbook is learning, this chapbook is breathing. It begs the question, I love you, is that enough? Rooted in nature, Carly Rae Jepsen lyrics, and the interstellar world above us, & watch how easily the jaw sings of god is tender and gentle, but with teeth. In the words of Cline, these poems 'ask the most gentle / hands to carry swords.'"

— Gardner Dorton, author of Stone Fruit

the audacity of this god / to plant dandelions beneath your tongue & call to the honeybees in the / clementine orchards: these small boys, with bouquets / on their breath crashing against the tides / of themselves; these gentle buzzsaws, with / tangerine touch crashing against the shores / of your teeth, asking you your name— you: copper watering can / left out in the rain you: helium nectarine / & buttercup adjective it's all about those good / vibrations, baby you feeling it? you / feeling it yet? &: oh baby— how they placed a plum / in a nuclear reactor all nectar & heat & splitting / apart & called it easy, the splitting apart— called it by your name / all citrus love & then buried it / in an orange grove: all blood & earth & / mandarin bone & god / how they ask the most gentle hands to carry swords.