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‘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
