Michele McDannold’s second full-length collection. In the middle of all the fucked-up things going on in this crazy fucking world, Michele McDannold is still fighting to keep love and hope alive, in her own way, by writing poetry that turns the fuckery into poems of observation and prayer. You can hear the weariness between each line. Smell the hot, moist breath on the desperate primal screams of why am I the only one that sees this shit? The cries of this is fucked. Let’s do something. The prayers born of a stubborn refusal to give up on love, no matter how many times it has left us bloody and raw. (from the foreword; By Plane, Train or Coincidence) – Dan Denton, author of $100-A-Week Motel
Michele McDannold is a literary rebel and this irreverent, delicious book, her best yet, is proof. McDannold has a way of stripping everything down to its essentials, leaving the reader sated, and yet with a strange sense of longing. i guess/that’ll have to/be enough the poet says in the last line of the final poem of this fine collection. Indeed. – Alexis Rhone Fancher, author of Erotic, New & Selected, poetry editor, Cultural Daily
Michele McDannold’s ‘By Plane, Train, or Coincidence’ is a book that takes you to L.A. and lets you get lost in the gritty, quiet moments of a big city. She dials in on what happens to the mind in the desert, how all that space is damaging to the heart and mind if you are from somewhere in the Midwest. It’s a book about what happens when a heart sets itself free, gets knocked around, and goes home to the memories of what love used to look like. There is a lot of emotion and raw views about being in love in McDannold’s collection, but you’ll have to pick through the shadows and candor to find it. When you do, it will hit you squarely in the jaw. –Aleathia Drehmer, author of Running Red Lights (Gutter Snob Books)
If you’re looking to explore your deepest dreams, Michele McDannold can walk you through the jungle they hide in. She unwinds the truth of the day’s ragged edge, while allowing the magic of the good night to breathe deep - one last time. McDannold truly leads the life of a seasoned writer. She knows things, she shares them here. Her latest book - ‘By Plane, Train or Coincidence.’ I like it. Lots. –Bill Gainer, A True Story
McDannold’s mastery of language thrives raw and unsparing in ‘By Plane, Train or Coincidence’ …lines living in a city that gnaws on itself . With pathos, humor, and her driving fearlessness she transforms any landscape into languid rhythms of fertile hauntings. She is a phenomenon, a fierce visionary. Get a copy of anything she writes! -Meg Tuite, author of White Van
