A History of Half-Birds: Poems (Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry)

Selected by Maggie Smith for the 2023 Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry, this debut collection of poems explores the aftermath of historys most powerful forces: devotion, disaster, and us. Rooted in the Gulf Coast, A History of Half-Birds measures the line between love and ruin. Part poet, part anthropologist, Caroline Harper New digs into dark placesa cave, a womb, a hurricaneto trace how violence born of devotion manifests not only in our human relationships, but also in our connections to the natural and animal worlds. Everywhere in these pages, tenderness is coupled with brutality: a deer eats a baby bird, a lover restrains another. I promised / a love poem, New proclaims, then teaches us about the anglerfish, how it attracts its mate / and prey with the same lure. In News exceptional voice, familiar concepts take on a shade of the fantastic. A woman tastes the earth for acidity, buries lemons and pennies for balance. Limestone sucks the sea / into little demitasse and hyacinths sip the sun / black. A lone elephant wanders into the wilderness of rural Georgia, never to be seen again. But perhaps most arresting about News work are the truths told by its strangeness, like the ancient fish who carved their shape in a mountains peak, or a mother who wears a lifejacket in the bathtub. Crafted by News voracious mind and carried by her matchless lyricism, A History of Half-Birds is a stunning investigation of loves beastly impulsesall it protects, and all it destroys.