SONJA
JOHANSON
Sonja Johanson holds an MFA in poetry from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers, and has work appearing in American Life in Poetry, Cincinnati Review, Plume, Rhino, and elsewhere. Her most recent chapbook is The Burgeoning World (Glass Lyre Press). Sonja lives and works as a horticulturist in the mountains of western Maine.
RAPPACCINI’S GARDEN
Rappaccini’s Garden is a compendium of poisonous poetry with meticulously cultivated poems stemming from a variety of unique poisonous plants. As poets, horticulturalists, & Master Gardeners, Jules Jacob & Sonja Johanson share a deep reverence & knowledge of the toxic flora featured in these pages.
The poems in this collection are accompanied by vibrant illustrations, illuminating the juxtaposition of the danger & beauty of each pernicious specimen. Enter through the once grand gate that nature long ago claimed & step into Rappaccini’s Garden, here a mysterious yet familiar path has been crafted, drawing you in with the dangerous allure & fatal charms of this verdant realm. Open your senses & take in the elegant intoxications of sight & scent, listen to the wisdoms whispered, yet pay heed & do not touch, nor eat of this perilous garden, lest you become firmly rooted in this soil.
