Lena

Cassie Pruyns Lena asks new questions: why we love, why we grieve. Weveread elegies before, but not like this. A lush and unsparing first book, Lenaasks readers to understand lovecrucially, a first love, an erotic loveinthe context not of a love lost but instead of an identity gained: we must consider not only was she worth it?, but also who has she made me? Pruyn lets us feel what lovers feelthe magnetism, the physicality, the tenderness, the rage, the wonderingwith language both musical and visceral. In these poems, the landscape is a character in itself; the past is as tangible as the present. Pruyn takes us to the Lost Love Lounge, we ride in a car / red as a dragon, and we observe the beloved stick herself in the belly with a needle in the way she used to attach her cufflinks. This is love and grief raised to the highest power; it is a debut not to be missed.