With the same tender honesty found in all of Dara Barrois/Dixon's poetry (née Dara Wier), the poems in Tolstoy Killed Anna Karenina are curious about the world we inhabit and the worlds we create. Wier brings generous attention to the things we love—be they animals, books, skyscapes, movies, poems, or other human beings—and the ways in which our stories around them help shape our sense of being. Here, with emotional exactitude, is a collection of poems that is unafraid to express "love humor despair loving kindness love humor empathy/humor joy sympathy love kindness courage."