“One of the most enjoyable characteristics of a good book of poetry is a strong and clear sense of place that involves the capturing of idiosyncratic language, regional details of landscape, material, manners, and means, and characteristic tensions, issues, and concerns. Perhaps an even better book will have as strong a sense of time, gender, and voice. Memory Bones is just such a book, unmistakably, uniquely, impressively, and transcendently the story of a Southern woman raised in the rural South of the 40s and 50s with all the appeal and universal relevance such a designation should entail. From childbirth to different relationships to a high school reunion to killing a dog on a Mississippi highway, these poems have everything a reader needs to make them meaningful and memorable.”
Scott Owens, Wild Goose Poetry Review
“Sara Claytor’s new collection is the American South, with all its lyricism, mystery and memory, longing and love. The locales Claytor evokes span the gulf between Mississippi and Vietnam, and she peoples her poems with characters of flesh, blood and bones, all carved with her deft verse, subtle rhythms, and wit. Claytor gives a view to a landscape that is varied, sometimes raw, but always rich. Memory Bones plumbs the marrow of the madness and mirth of Dixie and the human heart. It is not to be missed.”
Jubal Tiner, Pisgah Review