A voice reaches out to something beyond itself that cannot answer it

Mary Szybist's Incarnadine explores 'the relationships between poetry and prayer ... to explicate an encounter between the human and “the other”—something outside of human experience, be it nature or, in this case, God.'

In an interview with the Paris Review she said:

'I have thought about the connections between poetry and prayer for a long time, and sometimes I am even tempted to believe that they are similar engagements. When I was young, I reached a point where I found myself unable to pray. I was devastated by it. I missed being able to say words in my head that I believed could be heard by a being, a consciousness outside me. That is when I turned to poetry.

I have always been attracted to apostrophe, perhaps because of its resemblance to prayer. A voice reaches out to something beyond itself that cannot answer it. I find that moving in part because it enacts what is true of all address and communication on some level—it cannot fully be heard, understood, or answered. Still, some kinds of articulations can get us closer to such connections—connections between very different consciousnesses—and I think the linguistic ranges in poetry can enable that.'

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Iona - Wave After Wave.