Lily-livered

" 'On Earth, a fish barricades her den / and emerges male two months later, / melon-head worthy of brawling and teeth,' announces one of the brilliant sectioned poems central to Lily-livered. 'On Mars, the sunset is blue. / She asks me about this second life / of red dirt, burnt skin. What do you enjoy // about being a man?' Although framed by a series of 'transiversaries,' to describe this collection in diaristic terms would not do justice to the overlay of questions raised around gender, beauty, diet, desire, violence, medication and self-medication. An interest in refrain and cyclical structures anchors us, pleasingly counterbalanced against enjambment and an adventuresome sense of the line; we welcome cultural cameos from Shakespeare, HBO, and indie rock. This is a stunning read that showcases a sophisticated, exciting approach to contemporary poetics." 

-Sandra Beasley, Count the Waves





"Lily-livered is a beautifully braided catalog of ways to live and not die. Wren Hanks writes on friendship, hunger, touch, transformation, and the inheritance of a trait for which the chapbook is named. 'Imagine it happened in a barn, a meat cellar.' These poems unfurl as an array of forms, forms of life, with sensuous patterns and particulars. With 'stubble the possible field,' Hanks breathes lines that combine ribaldry, romance, and refrain into stunning, surprising images and interconnections. This is a smart, moving collection that you will love reading alone or with friends. 'The ground is safe.' "

-Oliver Baez Bendorf, Advantages of Being Evergreen