WWJD and Other Poems

"Savannah Sipple's debut is proof of a woman rising--up from the strung-out, Christ-haunted carcinogens and violences of a land stripped of its coal; up from

nine-hours on her feet followed by the extra work back home of picking gravel out of pinto beans; up from a return visit to the honey-suckle sweetness of good

church folks who whisper 'backslider' and 'quare.' Purging shame with every line, these poems love the Kentucky from which they rise as much as they reject the

self-hatred that place instilled in a girl neither thin nor straight, and ultimately (and yes, even miraculously), emerge blatant about desire and body-proud. 'I want to

be marbled, so that if you were to slice me, you'd know what a good cut I am, ' Sipple writes. Open this book to any poem to get a taste of exactly what she means."

- Nickole Brown, author of Sister & Fanny Says