Vow (Cleveland State University Poetry Center: New Poetry)
"The siren call of Rebecca Hazeltons lush second collection,Vow, is impossible to resist: Jukebox Jewel, princess cut / you were a libretto sung into the smut. The music and fearlessness of these poems, their swing from sexy burlesque decadence to heady emotional resonance, wooed me over and over again.Vowis an extended meditation via exquisite metaphor, sly humor, racy eroticism, and devastating elegy on the complicated nature of desire and domesticity. In these intense 21st century love poems, Hazleton presents us with a uniquely embodied poetics that refuses to separate pleasure from danger.Vowis as captivating as it is fierce." Erika Meitner"From one of the best young poets writing in America, the poems inVoware brainy, half-feral, sad, and sensuous, and often all at once. How astonishing! Hazelton's work seems lit from within what we call brilliant." Alan Michael Parker"Rebecca Hazelton's poetry is witty, uninhibited, and dense yet full of breath. To read her work is to take a ride on the carnival's Scrambler, arms up all the way. These poems hint at a love triangle in which there are no winners.Vowis one of the best second collections I have read in a long time." --Sandra BeasleyFrom one of the best young poets writing in America, the poems inVoware brainy, half-feral, sad, and sensuous, and often all at once. How astonishing! Hazelton s work seems lit from within what we call brilliant. --Alan Michael ParkerRebecca Hazelton's poetry is witty, uninhibited, and dense yet full of breath. To read her work is to take a ride on the carnival's Scrambler, arms up all the way. These poems hint at a love triangle in which there are no winners.Vowis one of the best second collections I have read in a long time. --Sandra Beasley