T H E   B E S T   N E W   W O M E N   P O E T S

 
N E W   R E L E A S E N O W   A V A I L A B L E

STARSHINE ROAD
 
  by L. I. Henley

Winner of the 2017 Perugia Press Prize
for a first or second book of poetry by a woman

 
 
 
 
 
“These poems are willing to be homesick for the entire desert including its extra dimensions, to lean beyond human into animal mind, to be afraid, to wander naturally through fear’s kingdom, through the little dangers and the large, under the dark metal of night pitted with scattershot stars.” 

                                                       —Marsha de la O

The clarity and ingenuity with which L. I. Henley attends her subjects in Starshine Road is instantly engaging. The details crackle. The circumstances and finely-tuned emotions envelop you. Here is an accessible poetic voice replete with acuity and grace. Her style feels like fresh air.

                                                        —Marvin Bell 
    
 
SET IN THE ISOLATED, SHIFTING MOJAVE DESERT TERRAIN of Joshua Tree, California, L. I. Henley’s Starshine Road invites us to witness the underside of a rural life near the world’s largest Marine Corps base juxtaposed with hundreds of miles of national park. Traversing a land that could not be more real, but which often feels like dreamscape, these poems explore the dangers and treasures of one’s birthplace: a dog and his homeless master, an infamous Amboy creosote, a junk pile, flawed cops, grieving mothers, and their wild, muscled, unpredictable boys. Molly Bendall says, “Staring down unsettling aspects of her youth, L. I. Henley combs through shards of her rough terrain, while mapping her own desert gothic in this brilliant new collection of poems. 

 
 
L. I. Henley was born and raised in Joshua Tree, California. She is the author of two chapbooks, Desert with a Cabin View and The Finding (both with Orange Monkey Publishing). Her first full-length book is These Friends These Rooms (Big Yes Press, 2016). She is the recipient of The Academy of American Poets University Award, The Duckabush Prize in Poetry, The Orange Monkey Poetry Prize, and The Pangaea Prize through The Poet’s Billow. With her husband, poet Jonathan Maule, she lives once again in the California high desert. Together they edit the online literary & art journal, Aperçus

 

 
 
 
 
 
 


SUBMISSIONS OPEN AUGUST 1st!
 
2018 Perugia Press Prize
for a First or Second Book by a Woman

Prize: $1000 and publication
Submit manuscripts between August 1 and November 15, 2017

 

 
READ & FEED FESTIVAL THIS SUNDAY!
 

 Perugia Press is excited to have a table at this cool festival as part of a marketplace of America’s most intriguing small literary publishers and artisanal food makers. Come join us at the Basilica Hudson in Hudson, NY at the 2nd annual Read & Feed Fest from 12pm-5pm on July 23!
 
PO Box 60364, Florence, MA  01062