Michelle Gillett • Blinding the Goldfinches

• The Backwaters Prize 2003 •

What one finds in these poems is the truth. It’s as simple as that. No frills from the workshop, no ostentatious diction or imagery, but only the firm, quiet enterprise of authenticity. In a world increasingly crude, cruel, and repulsive, what could be more pleasing, more useful? Not that these poems shun our actual history. Violence and dislocation are the clearly stated context here. But the accurate vision of a committed imagination prevails, and does so in language as flawless as language can be. I recommend these poems for their wisdom and insight, but even more for their steadfast initiative and independence, their refusal to be fashionable.
   • Hayden Carruth - Author of Scrabbled Eggs and Whiskey, National Book Award winner

About the Author:

Michelle Gillett holds an M.F.A. in writing from the Warren Wilson program. In addition to The Backwaters Prize, Michelle has won the Billy Murray Denny Poetry Award, the MacGuffin Poet Hunt, and numerous poetry fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her work has appeared in Poetry Northwest, Passages North, and many other literary journals. Gillett currently lives in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and their two daughters.