Four in Hand by Alicia Mountain

$20.00

BOA Editions, 2023.

"Mountain (High Ground Coward) delivers a work of raptured lust in this skillful consideration of romantic vulnerability: 'This is no return ticket between us...// Walk the highest hill until you see that/ what you buried can’t be driven out of me.' As a member of the LGBTQ community, that vulnerability includes the realities of discrimination (“there is no making public/ how we push and pull in dark corners./ The beehive whispers when it sees our/ hands touch)” as well as potential violence ('Redblooded and blueblood and violet./ Pulse and pierced dance floor hearts.'). In a poem allotting one word per line, Mountain evokes the seismic plummet of climate stability and the weight of individual responsibility: 'ruin/ mounting/ with/ each/ storm/ if/ this/ must/ be/ elegy/ it/ has/ been/ earned.' She seamlessly weaves narratives through the work’s four heroic crowns of sonnets, which are full of lush language, understated quips, and sonically stirring phrases. 'This book is a monument to touch,/ even with its hands in its pockets,' she promises. And, indeed, these sprawling, inviting pages deliver by revealing Mountain’s intimate and dynamic voice." — Publishers Weekly

BOA Editions, 2023.

"Mountain (High Ground Coward) delivers a work of raptured lust in this skillful consideration of romantic vulnerability: 'This is no return ticket between us...// Walk the highest hill until you see that/ what you buried can’t be driven out of me.' As a member of the LGBTQ community, that vulnerability includes the realities of discrimination (“there is no making public/ how we push and pull in dark corners./ The beehive whispers when it sees our/ hands touch)” as well as potential violence ('Redblooded and blueblood and violet./ Pulse and pierced dance floor hearts.'). In a poem allotting one word per line, Mountain evokes the seismic plummet of climate stability and the weight of individual responsibility: 'ruin/ mounting/ with/ each/ storm/ if/ this/ must/ be/ elegy/ it/ has/ been/ earned.' She seamlessly weaves narratives through the work’s four heroic crowns of sonnets, which are full of lush language, understated quips, and sonically stirring phrases. 'This book is a monument to touch,/ even with its hands in its pockets,' she promises. And, indeed, these sprawling, inviting pages deliver by revealing Mountain’s intimate and dynamic voice." — Publishers Weekly

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