Abi Pollokoff’s debut poetry collection night myths • • before the body, released this year from Red Hen Press with much advanced praise, is so deft in execution, so consistent in gait and vision from start to finish, I find it hard to believe it’s a debut at all. Perhaps this level of skill suggests an abundance of preparation. Pollokoff did, after all, arrive at this book with impressive accomplishments, including time spent as a Jack Straw writer, a Hugo fellow, and residencies with institutions like The Seventh Wave, the Seattle Review of Books, and the Alice Gallery. Maybe it can be chalked up to Pollokoff’s status as a triple-threat in the writing world—not only is she an accomplished poet, but she’s also an editor and a book artist. Add in a wildly inventive mind and the result is a structurally elegant first collection that feels both beautifully rendered and critical to this moment. Through her exploration of the female body and the stories and myths we create around it, Pollokoff illuminates the perils women negotiate every day.