In which I Play the Runaway

Book excerpt: Poetry. Winner of the Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize. 'I was born with a gift for gall and grit, ' Rochelle Hurt writes--a line that echoes through every poem in this collection. She spares nothing and bares all that needs baring about family, place, and relationships--how they reflect each other, blurred in tarnished mirrors. With a Sylvia Plath-like abandon and urgency, every single word feels completely necessary; words spoken with a vigor and honesty that are felt in the gut; words that remain lodged in the back of the throat. --Richard Blanco