The Sisters' Tragedy, with Other Poems, Lyrical and Dramatic

The centerpiece of this collection is "The Sisters' Tragedy," a devastating dramatic poem set in 1670. Two sisters, Aglae and Muriel, share more than blood: they share a grief for a man they both loved. As they mourn together, long-buried secrets surface. The man loved Muriel. Aglae knew. And she said nothing - watching in silence as he died without ever revealing her own heart. The poem unfolds as a quiet catastrophe of sisterhood, where love becomes a form of jealousy and grief becomes the only honest thing left. Aldrich writes with Victorian restraint that makes the emotional devastation land like a struck bell - brief, clear, infinite. The surrounding poems toggle between lyrical meditation and dramatic intensity, exploring love, loss, and the way human emotion lurks beneath social surfaces. This is poetry for readers who want their feelings to be earned through narrative precision.