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Commentary
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"Lisa Graley’s strange and beautiful book-length poem, Box of Blue Horses, is unlike any other poem I have read and unlike the work of any other poet I know. The richness of her language somewhat suggests Hart Crane’s voyages among the adagios of his islands. [include or not:] But her words are more than merely beautiful. They … “pummel / the kicking boards of our hearts….” - John Wood, author of In Primary Light and The Gates of the Elect Kingdom
"The poems in Lisa Graley’s Box of Blue Horses chart the course of lovers. Graley’s glass steeds, like those painted by Franz Marc, to whom she pays tribute, nevertheless walk, canter, gallop and resist, as she explores every angle of desire and the courage required to live by it. . “We hold on,” cautions the speaker, “to the fire channeled through us/ with that blessed dab of grace.” - Alice Derry, author of Tremolo and Strangers to Their Courage "The horses in Lisa Graley's poems could be horses on walls in caves in France. Or Joy Harjo's horses. The steeds of Marcus Aurelius, Peter the Great, or Joan of Arc. Or of the herds of the wild horses of Sable Island. … But they are none of these. The horses in Graley's Box of Blue Horses are all creations of a formidable, brilliant poet who knows expressionistic impulse and its modalities lie at the heart of all art…." - Darrell Bourque, author of Megan's Guitar and Other Poems from Acadie “The uncontrollable Blue Horses, the chase and fever of the ride, their blue longing, ‘moon chorus behind’ and all that’s trodden under, can’t be interpreted. Their force sweeps through the poems, rides over us. Visually rich, ekphrastic, Graley’s work syncs art and need, passion and confusion. It’s a ‘perilous trek,’ following the maze of the untamable. If ‘courage runs high, good sense low,’ the crashing and deepening force will unsettle and excite you.” - Beverly Burch, author of Sweet to Burn |
Awards |
Honorable Mention - 2013 New England Book Festival Award for Poetry
Honorable Mention - 2014 Paris Book Festival Award for Poetry Honorable Mention - 2014 The Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry |