Understories is an exploration of things visible mostly to the inner eye and memory, things below the surface. The book began as a riff on Mark Strand's brilliant title, "Planet of the Lost Things," and it is an exploration of loss, but also of recovery through memory and language. The first part, "A Perfect Afternoon" follows an unfulfilled romance through significant moments and years to elegy for what never was and for the loved one himself. The romance is juxtaposed with epiphanic moments of reflection, joy and dismay, perceptive growth points. The second section, "Functional Families," considers the theme of family, especially mothers, and moves through varying visions of family to a sort of resolution though the poet's mothering of her own son. The third section, "Going the Distance for Poetry," focuses on poetry and art, some of the connections that make the poetic quest possible, literary, artistic and natural (looking at mountains, listening to trees). The final section, "Lost Cities," looks at New York, Toronto, Florence, ancient Rome, Mayan Mexico through the lens of history and memory, alternating sorrow for loss with belief in the power of poetry to preserve. Once of the themes of Understories is "where does the story end?" and the book takes the long view, writing beyond the apparent ending.

Judith, at fifty, feels that her life is irremediably stalled, and she is depressed. Although she has a secure job teaching English at a university, she is the single mother of a son on the autistic spectrum who has been lurching through the school system, year by year. He is a non-reader, and she is worried that ninth grade English may be too much for him. Because of the demands of work and mothering, she is isolated. Buried under the surface of her life, is her longing to write, and her deep feelings for Brian, a man who taught her in a creative writing program, and with whom she has telepathic connection. When Judtih meets Rosetta Kempffer at a psychic fair, she doesn't imagine that anything could change a life that seems so hopelessly stuck. Rosetta suggests Judith take a course from her in psychic healing, and although Judith is skeptical, she signs up, not expecting it to make a bit of difference. Yet, during the course, Judith learns not only techniques and awareness of healing, but also the truth of "things not seen with the bodily vision." As the course progresses, Judith becomes more appreciative of her non-academic classmates and she begins to see the connection between teaching and healing, as well as the truth of a relationship that exists mostly in the astral realm. The core of the book is Judith's journey, and the journey of the other students in the class, through the course. At the end of the course, Judith finds that she can use some of these techniques to relieve her son's stress and help his brain reconfigure in a way that facilitates reading. She also encounters Brian, the man she feels so connected to, and it finally seems possible to her that their relationship may become more meaningful.