Kathleen Flenniken Knihy

In her wide-ranging third book, poet Kathleen Flenniken undertakes the difficult task of re-seeing what is before us. Post Romantic fuses personal memory with national and ecological upheaval, interweaving narratives of family, nuclear history, love of country, and a dangerous age moving too fast. Flenniken takes these challenging moments―bits and pieces of childhood, marriage, cultural touchstones―and holds them up to the light, seeking comfort in a complicated world that is at once heartbreaking, confounding, and dear.

Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, the poems explore the profound impact of living near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Richland, Washington. Kathleen Flenniken reflects on her childhood experiences and the environmental devastation revealed decades later, juxtaposing personal loss with collective denial. The work grapples with themes of betrayal, identity, and the struggle to reconcile painful truths, as Flenniken confronts her own memories and the legacy of radiation exposure that affected her community and her friend’s family.