"Savannah Sipple's debut is proof of a woman rising--up from the strung-out, Christ-haunted carcinogens and violences of a land stripped of its coal; up from
nine-hours on her feet followed by the extra work back home of picking gravel out of pinto beans; up from a return visit to the honey-suckle sweetness of good
church folks who whisper 'backslider' and 'quare.' Purging shame with every line, these poems love the Kentucky from which they rise as much as they reject the
self-hatred that place instilled in a girl neither thin nor straight, and ultimately (and yes, even miraculously), emerge blatant about desire and body-proud. 'I want to
be marbled, so that if you were to slice me, you'd know what a good cut I am, ' Sipple writes. Open this book to any poem to get a taste of exactly what she means."
- Nickole Brown, author of Sister & Fanny Says
"Savannah Sipple's debut is proof of a woman rising--up from the strung-out, Christ-haunted carcinogens and violences of a land stripped of its coal; up from
nine-hours on her feet followed by the extra work back home of picking gravel out of pinto beans; up from a return visit to the honey-suckle sweetness of good
church folks who whisper 'backslider' and 'quare.' Purging shame with every line, these poems love the Kentucky from which they rise as much as they reject the
self-hatred that place instilled in a girl neither thin nor straight, and ultimately (and yes, even miraculously), emerge blatant about desire and body-proud. 'I want to
be marbled, so that if you were to slice me, you'd know what a good cut I am, ' Sipple writes. Open this book to any poem to get a taste of exactly what she means."
- Nickole Brown, author of Sister & Fanny Says