loudest when startled
Poetry; released October 29th, 2020 from YesYes Books
The poems in loudest when startled, luna rey hall’s debut collection, explore the ways in which gun violence has become part of the fundamental nature of relationships, family, and American masculinity—so much so that the bullet has been rendered benign, just another news story, just another obituary, just another walk down the street. The poetry in loudest when startled follows two brothers born into gun culture as they navigate their relationship to anger, loss, and guns in entirely different ways with different outcomes yet leaving us with a sense that we are all both predator and prey.
2020 Julie Suk Award Longlist Finalist
— Jacar Press
“Through vivid, arresting imagery and the iconography of firearms, these poems explore the damage guns inflict, both physically and psychically.”
— Matt Rasmussen, author of Black Aperture
“The language of [is] direct, exquisite—bristles with yearning and violence.”
— Eduardo C. Corral, author of Guillotine
“loudest when startled is an honest, unsparing book— all the more reason for its necessity.”
— Ellen Bass, author of Indigo
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