Displacement

Leslie Harrison’s collection marks the arrival of an assured new poetic voice. Chosen as the winner of the 2008 Bakeless Prize in poetry by guest judge Eavan Boland, Displacement addresses questions of place and, of course, displacement—from marriage and home—and explores the aftershocks of being uprooted physically and emotionally. Paired with Harrison’s natural, keen sense of rhythm, the central themes of impermanence and loss are heightened by the poems’ impeccable structure.

In a masterful display of formal precision, the collection is filled with "engaging contradictions," says Eavan Boland. In her introduction, Boland writes, "There is a poignancy, poise, and a presence about this book and about its traffic between secrecy and disclosure that allows it to have an unusual force, and a true grip on its reader. This is a real lyric journey; and the reader will take it, too."

• Divorce Poetry: A formally precise and emotionally raw exploration of the aftershocks of a marriage ending and a home being uprooted.
• Poetry of Loss and Impermanence: Navigates what Eavan Boland calls the “traffic between secrecy and disclosure,” capturing the poignant landscape of grief with impeccable structure.
• Women’s Poetry: An assured, unflinching look at a woman’s interior journey through profound life changes, memory, and the search for place.
• Nature Poetry: The natural world—from a firefly’s glow to a winter forest—becomes a powerful mirror for emotional landscapes of solitude and resilience.

"A heart wrenching, fabulous book about love and betrayal. Through mythic disguise and formal control, it enacts a devastatingly exact account of marital breakdown, erotic vagrancy, regret and anger...A tough and beautiful collection."—Alan Shapiro, author of Old War