Spit

by Esther Lee

Poetry. Asian American Studies. Winner of the Elixir Press 10th Annual Poetry Awards. "SPIT shines. Filled with bravado and brilliance, Lee's debut fills in the blanks it makes profound use of, hollering across the 'rusted hollows.' Utilizing a host of forms from montage to prose poems, 'Interviews with My [C]orean Father, ' to fractured sonnets Lee echoes and evokes a multitude of identities: writer, sister, 'good girl, ' lover. If this is the future of American poetry, as it appears to be, we are in good hands" Kevin Young."

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2011

About the author

Hailing from the American South, Esther Lee lives and writes on a 35’ sailboat with her artist husband, Michael, and their cat, Bowie. A Kundiman fellow, she is the author of the chapbook, Blank Missives (Trafficker Press), and her debut poetry collection, Spit, which received the Elixir Press Poetry Prize and Pushcart Prize nominations.

Her second poetry collection, Sacrificial Metal, was selected for the Minds on Fire Book Prize by Conduit Books & Ephemera. Her writing and collaborations with visual artists have appeared in multiple literary magazines and anthologies. You can read more about her mischief at wayfindersnow.com and estherlee.io.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is just not my type of collection. I think that poetry is so personal, and not every poet is going to connect with every reader. I felt confused by a lot of the syntax in this collection (particularly by the dear ______ poems) and though there is a lot of great language, I think many of the stories get lost in complicated breaks/syntax choices.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought with J and M in Amherst and found the read a bit uneven but ultimately pretty fun. Half the time I’m writing words in the margin to guess what some of the blanks in the titles could be, the other half I’m considering the distances (emotional, physical, territorial, and conceptual) these poems constantly negotiate and work thru.

[H]

http://lanternreview.com/blog/2011/05...