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From “Physics”:
. . . His hand tangles in my hair
as the train passes,
and in that blur of sound and light
things are settled by a force
outside ourselves,
as we had hoped would happen.
In the afternoon,
the green plums hang invisible
on the green tree. At night they glow
with a powdery green light
of their own—
sour enough to last a while,
sour enough, surely.
“Henrietta Goodman’s debut rivets with its accuracy, honesty and fluency. These poems have tonal ranges necessary for the complexities Goodman tackles, sometimes tames, more often allows to remain feral and wild. At times the poems read as if they were urgent instructions hell-bent on keeping us alive. Take What You Want isn’t shy about giving us a lot of what we need.”—Dara Wier
"These well-crafted poems are reminiscent of Anne Sexton's Transformations; readers will look forward to witnessing the transformations to come in Goodman's future work."—Library Journal
"If I think of forerunners to this collection, I am immediately reminded of Sylvia Plath’s zero to the bone accuracy . . . the visceral immediacy of her poetry makes Goodman Plath’s heir . . . reading and rereading Take What You Want, I felt as if I was being told privileged secrets as old and as necessary as the first stories and the first tellers themselves."—Iron Horse Literary Review
"Take What You Want is all about generosity, 'including' us, via startling images and vibrant language, by involving us in the world view of a distinct speaker—daughter, mother, citizen, partner—as existence and imagination force her to ask questions, some answerable, some simply—and, in these poems, beautifully—survived."—Christopher Davis
Henrietta Goodman has received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Montana Arts Council and the Marjorie Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency. Her poems have appeared in Mid-American Review, North Carolina Literary Review, Hubbub, Northwest Review, and other journals. Originally from North Carolina, she currently teaches at the Writing Center at the University of Montana.