byul’s Reviews > Best Barbarian: Poems > Status Update

"which is not unlike the beast, Grendel / coming out of the wild heaven into the hills / and halls of the mead house at the harpist's call / with absolute prophecy in his breast / and a desire for mercy, for a friend, an end"

no matter how many times I read the opening poem to this collection, the tenderness with which Reeves asks us to consider Grendel is unmatched