Racing Hummingbirds - by Jeanann Verlee (Paperback)

About the Book

Poet/performer Jeanann Verlee releases award-winning book of expertly crafted, startlingly honest, shin-kicking poems.

Book Synopsis

Racing Hummingbirds takes readers into one woman's journey through the multifaceted realms of manic depression.

Within these pages, Verlee's award-winning debut collection unfolds as a series of narratives, prayers, and conjurings that fearlessly tackle subjects like gender, sexuality, race, poverty, heartbreak, and the unyielding spirit of survival. The intimacy of her words invites readers to step inside the very heart of these themes, blurring the lines between observer and participant.

As you immerse yourself in the pages of Racing Hummingbirds, you'll find your emotions tapped in to the raw and evocative landscape that Verlee masterfully paints.

Her words create an immersive experience, one where you'll intimately explore the depths of human emotion, from the darkest struggles to the resilient spirit that carries us through.

Review Quotes

"Racing Hummingbirds is a masterful first collection... They are medicine words."

- The Legendary

"It's poetry with its teeth bared...completely and unapologetically naked."

- PANK Magazine

"...a roller coaster of imagistic magic. Form, language, allusion, and voice interact, collide, shape-shift, and duel...throughout an utterly arresting mosaic."

- Danse Macabre

"Fierce and formidable, Jeanann Verlee is poised to make an indelible mark - much like a razor slashing silk - on what's become a comfortably placid poetic landscape."

- Patricia Smith, author of Blood Dazzler and Teahouse of the Almighty

"...as visceral and searing as it is compassionate and forgiving.

- Small Press Reviews"

"...one of the most powerful collections I've ever read."

- Roxane Gay, HTML Giant

About the Author

Jeanann Verlee is a poet, editor, activist, and former punk rocker who collects tattoos and winks at boys. Author of Racing Hummingbirds , recipient of the Independent Publisher Book Award Silver Medal in Poetry, her work also appears in The New York Quarterly, FRiGG, PANK, and decomP, among others. An acclaimed performance poet, she has represented NYC six times at National Poetry Slam competitions, performs and facilitates workshops across North America, and curates the Urbana Poetry Slam series at the Bowery Poetry Club. She lives in New York City with her dog and a pair of origami lovebirds.