Holly Wren Spaulding’s latest work is an extended luminous poem evoking the sensuality of late summer entwined with unexpected narrative and rhythm. Spare and suggestive, the work’s innovative form creates a new and singular experience for readers. "We've been searching for eons for the lines to complete Sappho's fragments, and I think we've found them in Holly Wren Spaulding's If August. She has curated a new experience for our rushed lives by offering a well- paced mediation on what life has to offer. Even taking in the lines at their measured pace, we feel invigorated, as if 'a wind/ fell through/ everything' and, admittedly, I for one couldn't help myself: 'I listened/ kept listening' to every syllable with which she offered this enchanting surprise. It's a rare gift to find healing in a book with all of the chatter in our daily lives, but this work will center you." — A. Van Jordan, author, The Cineaste