In Sarah Riggs’ The Nerve Epistle friendship and family travel through a void of separation with a wake of streaking light. Her poems, each written to a friend or loved one, invoke the connection between two people who stand facing some of life’ s most trying moments, finding solace in their shared words. The natural world serves as a muse and an emotional backdrop. Each epistle works in tandem with an immersive picture of poetic relationships built on love, time, understanding, and mutual concern. “ The end of life: what is it / The light diagonal, the tops of trees / Turning in a forest, these words / Holding us together, not to feel alone”