At its center, CODE features a narrative sequence with three characters: a new father, a mother dying young from an inherited disease, and that mother's own DNA. In light of exciting new developments such as CRISPR that would allow us to alter genetics and eradicate certain diseases, this book approaches ethical questions from an angle that science cannot. Ultimately, CODE is a book about grief-specifically, how to accept it. These poems attest to how we preserve what is lost, not only through story and poetry, but also through nonverbal means like cave art and DNA.
