Synopses & Reviews
Prelude to Bruise is a song from a tightrope, balancing ecstatic existence and the chaos that always threatens to engulf a life on the margins. Danger is everywhere in these poems but it never overwhelms them; the poet is always on the other side of them, anchoring them. And his story carries us relentlessly along.
From "Sleeping Arrangement":
Take your hand out
from under my pillow.
And take your sheets with you.
Drag them under. Make pretend ghosts.
I can't have you rattling the bed springs
so keep still, keep quiet.
Mistake yourself for shadows.
Learn the lullabies of lint.
Review
"This year's Stonewall-Gittings literature award goes to Saeed Jones's Prelude to Bruise (Coffee House), a punch-in-your-gut fusion of racial, sexual, and personal struggle and a National Book Critics Circle finalist." Library Journal
Review
"Prelude to Bruise by Saeed Jones, a tome of searing poetry about what it means to be Black, gay, Southern and so much more." Refinery 29
Review
"Prelude to Bruise Saeed Jones is a powerful collection...with a high level of craft, emotion and metaphor." Ebony
Review
"Saeed Jones may be one of the most necessary poets of our time." July Westhale, Lambda Literary
Review
"Prelude to Bruise is an airtight collection of visceral and stunning poems." Mosaic Magazine
About the Author
Saeed Jones is the author of the chapbook When the Only Light is Fire (2011, Sibling Rivalry Press). His work has appeared in Best Gay Stories 2013 , Guernica , Ebony Magazine , The Rumpus , Hayden's Ferry Review and West Branch among other publications. Jones received his MFA in Creative Writing at Rutgers University Newark and is the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem and Queer / Arts / Mentors. He works as the editor of BuzzfeedLGBT and lives in Harlem.