Poetry

“In his powerful debut collection, winner of the 2014 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, Marshall explores the perils and praise songs of black lives on the South Side of Chicago. Much of the collection takes shape through the voice of a young black man navigating high school, family, friendships, and the physical and mental dangers that surround him as he strives toward manhood.”

“Opaque Melodies That Would Bug Most People is filled with young, vibrant poems from a wise voice. The poems often wax reflective, filled with the historicity of experience, yet always returning to the now.”

“So attuned to the music and texture of syllables, the sound-sculptures of syntax, and the complex under-meanings of metaphor, that shaping phrases and sentences to enact (rather than merely express) their own meanings is already second nature to him. Anders Carlson-Wee makes the rugged physical and emotional world of the upper plains our world”

“Chantal’s poetry offers us layers of past and present, song and imagery are perfectly fused. She is also a photographer and collagist who has displayed her work in prominent Parisian galleries. We see and hear Paris, its surfaces, its secret inner life. Bilingual French-English edition.”

“The poetry in The Thread Box demonstrates the same literary perfection that made McCash an award-winning novelist. Her verse casts vivid images in soft rhythms and reminds us of the things that make us human.”