Equivalents

Poetry Collection. Selected by Danielle Pafunda, Prageeta Sharma and Susan Scarlata for the inaugural, 2012 Besmilr Brigham Women Writers Award.

"These poems are evidence of a mind that emits thought the way a quick-spinning, millisecond pulsar emits radio waves—with devastating precision. They form a record of incisive looking, and of the tumultuous perceptions sight provokes. They are lyric paradoxes, mostly packaged in prose boxes. They imitate the speed of light and yet, if we look up when we’re told to, we find we’re standing still while everything that can be observed rushes by behind us. They are perfect examples of how well the lyric mode can succinctly interrogate existence. They are distinctive, inventive, intrepid, and discerning. Their rebellious intelligence is irrefutable—I found myself saying “yes” to every word." - Mary Jo Bang