Evie Shockley on Selah Saterstrom and Renee Gladman

Evie Shockley is the author of a half-red sea (2006) and two chapbooks: 31 words * prose poems (2007) and The Gorgon Goddess (2001). Along with writing poetry, she co-edits the journal jubilat, writes prose about poetry, and teaches African American literature and creative writing at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is a Sagittarius, and this shouldn't surprise you.

1. The Pink Institution by Selah Saterstrom
Coffee House Press 2004

Six words that describe this book: Post-Faulknerian Southern Gothic for Smart Feminists

When I first read this book, I... wondered how this more than slightly disturbing text came from the brain of the sweet and lovely Selah.

When I finished this book, I... read it again.

This book will... unpack for you the phrase "southern belle."

This book amazes.

This book is a fucking keeper.

A favorite quote from book:

Willie called his daughters into the dining room. He picked up a dining room table chair and threw it into a closed window. The window shattered. He said, 'That's a lesson about virginity. Do you understand?' to which they replied, 'Yes, sir.'

2. To After That (TOAF) by Renee Gladman
Atelos 2008

Six words that describe this book: Introverted, But With a Come-Hither Look.

Complete this sentence: When I first read this book, I... smiled a lot, on my face and in my brain.

Complete this sentence: When I finished this book, I... understood better what Renee means when she says she is interested in sentences.

Complete this sentence: This book will... make you want to read more of Gladman's writing.

Complete this sentence: This book blisters.

Complete this sentence: This book is a fait accompli.

A favorite quote from book:

It sometimes does not matter what you do in actual space. You just go on writing. I find that we exist in language and we exist on the city street, and that it is possible to believe you are doing one without knowing you are doing the other.
When I say 'we exist,' I mean to be making a statement about urban living, how it goes on without one's full participation, how it insinuates itself in one's sentences. While I had been long aware that I was city living, I had not yet grasped that I was city writing too.