Staff Pick
In Sons of Achilles, Lovelace deals in inherited violence — that which is passed down from our families, our countries, our cultures, our lovers, our myths — a violence which threads itself through every facet of our lives. I am particularly drawn to the relationship between violence and intimacy in these poems, the expression of love as violence: What can it mean that even (or especially) love is expressed through violence? How do we make use of an inheritance which robs us? What impresses me the most is Lovelace's ability to pass between realms of the personal, the political, the mythological so seamlessly as to prove these distinctions don't really exist — the violence is pervasive and recurring. The present bloodied by its inception. Recommended By Darla M., Powells.com