The first book of poetry from Sarah Hannah, Longing Distance, was published by Tupelo Press in 2004 and became a semifinalist for the Yale Younger Poets prize. “Alembic” is from her second collection, Inflorescence, to be released by Tupelo in 2008. Her poems have appeared in The Southern Review, AGNI, Boulevard, Parnassus, Michigan Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. She currently teaches poetry at Emerson College and is a contributing editor at Barrow Street. (updated 11/2006)