Auto Mechanic's Daughter

by Karen Harryman

“In Karen Harryman’s hands everything becomes a blessing.”—Ellen Bass, author of Mules of Love

Charting the vicissitudes of her own life, and the travails and triumphs of the lives of those whom she knows and loves, Karen Harryman’s poems travel great distances, both internally and geographically.

Karen Harryman lives in Burbank, California, with her husband Kirker Butler. Auto Mechanic’s Daughter is her first book.

Genres: Poetry

84 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

K. D. Harryman’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Narrative, Cream City Review, The Greensboro Review, Raleigh Review, Los Angeles Review and Verse Daily among others. She is the recipient of the 2019 Rumi Prize sponsored by Arts & Letters and the 2018 James Hearst Poetry Prize sponsored by North American Review. Her first book, Auto Mechanic's Daughter, was selected by Chris Abani for the Black Goat Poetry Series Imprint at Akashic Books in Brooklyn. She lives with her family in Los Angeles and is Poetry Editor for Five South.

Reviews

[Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay so this is literally my favorite collection of poetry ever. This is the book I'd bring if I could only bring one book (this is the book I HAVE brought when I could only bring one book. This is the book I read in my tent at the end of 12 hour days working on trails.) Maybe it's because I also grew up in Kentucky and left, and boy do these poems hit me right in all of those feels. I mean, it definitely resonates with me a lot because of that, but read it even if that isnt true for you. Just. read it. go, right now.

[Kasandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't decide whether to give this 3 or 4 stars, but the poems I like, I really like: they're full of surprise and telling detail, without wasted words, very American, very "homey" in the best way, comfortable and sounding deceptively familiar, as if an old friend were telling you stories you'd heard at least once before. Harryman has an ability to be simultaneously understated and to stick a hook in your gut. I particularly enjoyed "My Sister the Belly Dancer", "Kentucky Blason", "Lepidophile", "Dream in Which My Mother Has Fallen Asleep in the Bathtub", "Ode for a Tornado", and "Credo for Odds and Ends".

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this collection. All of the poems are extremely descriptive and strongly felt as well as thought out.

[Donnelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

a poet with something to say . . . a force . . . unafraid to go where poems catch fire . . . so good . . .