Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows

by Eugenia Leigh

"Everyone warns us off the rocks. / But what will keep us from the river? Leigh asks in her debut collection, which pieces together a kind of mythology in which the surreal and celestial coexist with the realities of childhood abuse as an adult speaker grapples with its lasting emotional trauma. Rooted in a place of deep faith and bottomless compassion, Leigh's speaker struggles to remember, and to remind us all, that to worship is to survive is to be / wholly human. "

"This book went through me like a blue lightning strike. Part lyric, part narrative, and always alive, unflinchingly alive. A wonderful book and an even more astonishing debut!"
—Thomas Lux

Genres: Poetry

83 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2014

About the author

Eugenia Leigh is a Korean American poet and the author of two poetry collections, Bianca (Four Way Books, 2023) and Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows (Four Way Books, 2014). Poems from Bianca received Poetry magazine’s Bess Hokin Prize and have appeared in numerous publications including The Atlantic, The Nation, Ploughshares, and the Best of the Net anthology. Her essays have appeared in TIME, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Eugenia received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and serves as a Poetry Editor at The Adroit Journal and as the Valentines Editor at Honey Literary.

Reviews

[Amorak Huey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We know nothing / of glory."

Incredible book. Happy to be teaching it again.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

My friend, who pops therapy like candy,
hounds me to see someone. But how could I
wreck another human being with the shrieks

of my father's wars?

[Zacarias Rivera, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing. Leigh's metaphors are mesmerizing. Her manipulation of lines, images, and biblical allusions allowed me to understand the depths of her childhood pain and resiliency, to hear her profound questions about her parents' relationship and experiences, and her struggle to reconcile that with God, whom her mother called good.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

honey badgers <3

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful language but a harrowing narrative arc. Highly recommended.

[Danielle DeTiberus · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entirely contemporary voice alongside equally timeless, almost archetypal images. A fine first book by a poet of daring and craft.

[Mintiswirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dont have a lot to say other than that my heart shook when I read this.

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the darkness of this poet in terms of what she captures about a childhood bearing witness to / being the victim of domestic violence. All of the poets I've been reading are able to capture the depth and complexity of dark experiences and emotions (perhaps all good writers, even, must be able to do this, but I'm not really saying what I mean here and I don't have the depth of knowledge about poetry to make sweeping comparative statements). But she gets at something that none of them have that resonates with me.

And beyond that, I think I'm getting distracted here too much with sort of reflecting on my own personal connections/ experiences because of a personally difficult time that I'm going through / a mental health journey of discovery or whatever. She's got amazing talent. Her skill in terms of her choices for structuring the poems, content, language choice, etc--is more than I have the capacity to assess skillfully here.

My very favorite poems were "On the Anniversary of the War on Terror," "Not a Warning, Not a Challenge, Not an Instruction Manual," "Blood, Sparrows, and Sparrows," "Every Hair on Your Head," and "We Called it the Year of Birthing."

Honorable mentions (some of them, anyway) go to "Recognizing Lightning," "Pretty Universe," "Wire Hangers," "Angel Hunting," and "What Creatures Remain."

From "We Called It the Year of Birthing":

"God handed me a trash bag bloated with feathers. 'Turn this
into a bird,' he said. He threw me a bowl of nails. 'And make with this,
a new father.' God gave some people
whole birds. Readymade fathers with no loose bolts.
The rest of us received crude nests. Used mothers.

I banged the nails into two planks of wood
and marched around a church screaming 'Father, father'
until friends appeared, hammering
the scraps they were given to make something of themselves."

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally am starting to feel a bit less daunted by poetry where I feel more like I can evaluate a poem or a collection of poems and know if I actually like it rather than feel compelled to like it because Poetry People™️ like it.

The poems in this collection were good, but not great. It's hard because so much of this was Leigh processing her traumas: her relationship with an abusive parent, being the child of immigrants, religious trauma, and those are heavy topics, so you feel compelled to say how moving the poems were, but I didn't actually find them particularly striking, and the truth is not all depictions of trauma are equally good. The poems themselves were perfectly readable, don't get me wrong, but she never really engaged in any rhetorical tricks that made me feel awed by her language. There were times when she did, but many of the poems felt a bit sophomoric and heavy handed (especially the poem about a woman cutting Bible verses into her arm; that felt like something I would have read on LiveJournal in 2006).

Still the collection on the whole wasn't bad, and I did not feel like the poems were unnecessarily obtuse just to seem deep. Some standouts (for me) were The Burning Ones, The Exchange, Sustenance, and Resolution.

[eb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first section was extraordinary. I did get bogged down in the angel/ God imagery in layer sections. It feels almost immature, like the poet is reaching for a revelation that doesn’t fit into words and falls back on God as an all encompassing concept, which is disappointing. Had hoped for more precision and metaphor after reading Bianca, but to be fair, this is a first book.

I do think the return to trauma as a theme in Bianca is more clearly addressed there; reading in sequence offers a developing narrative of ptsd and recovery, but there is an element of absorption here that’s opaque to outside readers— in both books, but less in Bianca— that’s absolutely about trauma and tough to repeatedly read. I’m saying this as someone who is also writing about trauma, and trying to see how it works best on the page, what makes it engaging to non-traumatized readers

[minjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intense and lyrical. The undercurrents of rage and passion were palatable, emotions I found similar to the moments where you swallow down ugly words in a fight. This collection is a work in visceral honesty – something which I adored. If there's one complaint I might have is that at some points, I felt that the imagery was a little too on the nose for my taste. However, overall it was a lovely read.

Some of my favorite lines:
If artists were created in his image, how often
does God abandon his mistakes?

You. Your fading freckle,
your misprinted birth certificate.
You, pressed to a stranger
and invisible. You, pressed to a stranger
and wet.

My friend, who pops therapy like candy,
hounds me to see someone. But how could I
wreck another human being with the shrieks
of my father's wars?

[Brice Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

While a little rougher around the edges than "Bianca" and slightly more prone to self-flagellation, "Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows" is a masterpiece in its own right.

I sobbed through the entire latter half, and I was in awe of how Eugenia Leigh built poems out of the broken religious language that often breaks us. In particular, the title poem was really resonant, and the collection is worth reading simply for that.

This book is gorgeous, and I feel so lucky to be able to read it.

[Davita · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely triumphant debut by an insightful, masterful writer. The metaphors are fresh, the language and stories she tells are compelling in the best way, and haunting as well. They'll stay with you long after you've finished the book, the images, the unique twist on language, the deeply felt emotions....a fresh, dynamic, gut-wrenching and inspiring read.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eugenia Leigh is a revelation. Bold, raw, and unflinching, these poems are an open wound that command the reader to wake up and pay attention. Leigh doesn't hold back when she examines family or love. One of the more daring poets currently writing today.

[Abigail Munson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eugenia Leigh over-marinates god in this collection, makes the uncanny descriptions of religious imagery feel mundane or trite. It was still good though.

[Joan Kwon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt every human emotion while reading this book. Eugenia Leigh writes what so many of us can't articulate, and she does it masterfully and artfully.

[Clover Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

simply phenomenal

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where have you been, beautiful book? Thank you for the tears.

[Karla Frizler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful and gut wrenching, this collection of poetry is a survival guide for processing generational trauma. The words, metaphors, and images conjured will remain with me for a long time to come.

[albus ~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

too much christianity imo

[Maria Hiers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn

[Joseph Dante · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, intense poems about family, faith, and trauma. Delicate, patient, and brutal all at once. It gets a bit too God-heavy towards the end for my tastes, but nonetheless, a new favorite.

[Brooks Sterritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"All I recall from 1991: a stairwell"

[Meg Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite poetry collections in a while. I often point my students to the poem "Psalm 107," which imitates the biblical psalms through the anaphora "Praise you" to make some powerful juxtapositions and revelations. The language in these poems is urgent without forsaking lyricism. An absolute must-read!

[Neil Aitken · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most memorable and moving books of poetry I've read. Gorgeous, brutal, and unforgettable.