Synopses & Reviews
Unapologetically sensual and forthright, Bell explores desire, loss, faith, doubt, tenderness, and violence; and sex as experience, metaphor, and magnifying lens for relationships. Bright Stain may or may not become the Sex and the City of poetry, but this knock-your-socks-off debut will likely inspire debate — perhaps controversy — as it inhabits some startling points of view, including those of pedophile priests, serial killers, and prison inmates. Those who miss reading these breathtaking, visceral poems won’t know what their friends are raving about.
Review
"How deeply gratifying to see Francesca Bell’s electric, erotic and completely ravishing debut collection, Bright Stain, at last in the world. For the past ten years she has been writing some of the most charged, subtle and yet devastating poems in American poetry. Many of these dramatic vignettes are laced with a rare sexual candor and a whip-smart emotional intelligence. Bright Stain is one of the most darkly elegant and luminous books of recent years; it is, in all ways, truly a wonder." David St. John
Review
"Francesca Bell's first book of poetry...reflects a dark universe in which sexual pleasure and pain are intricately linked....This debut collection is impressive for its distinctive voice and pungent imagery." Meryl Natchez, from Zyzzyva
Review
"Francesca Bell’s poems are fierce and tender, passionate, compassionate, disturbing and delightful. Wide-ranging, finely-honed, smart and surprising, Bright Stain is a compelling debut collection!" Ellen Bass
About the Author
Francesca Bell's poems and translations appear in many journals, including B O D Y, Massachusetts Review, New Ohio Review, North American Review, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, and Rattle. She is the former poetry editor of River Styx, the translator of a collection of poems by Palestinian poet Shatha Abu Hnaish (Dar Fadaat, 2017), and the author of the collection Bright Stain (Red Hen Press, 2019).