Paulsen's theme in this book is her daily life: family, friends, her surroundings and the nude, in locations including Westchester, Block Island and Mabou. Yet as much as Paulsen's images explore her existence now - children playing Scrabble, freshly cut roses, gambolling dogs - they also concern memory and family history. Paulsen's colour is hushed and her subjects sometimes subtly blurred, creating effects that hark back to Paulsen's training as a painter. And just like much still-life painting, Sarah Rhymes with Clara is a revelation of the poetic in the seemingly banal. As William Meyers wrote of one of Paulsen's images in the Wall Street Journal, "the picture is so casual, so free of gimmicks, it seems to have taken itself, which is precisely the hardest of artistic accomplishments."
