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Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows
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Critical Mass: National Book Critics Circle Blog
"How did you as the artist negotiate this construction of God in your own image?"
"When will poetry stop killing families?"
"How do you recharge when you're feeling beaten down creatively?"
"What is one thing that you desire to say as a poet, but haven't said yet?"
American Book Review
"Eugenia Leigh is a brave, young poet who has many worlds to split open ahead of her."
— Shaindel Beers
Muzzle Magazine
"In Leigh's world, survival doesn't mean absolution or release but the ability to create something new. Imagination is a tool for liberation, allowing the speaker and characters throughout the collection to endure; prepared to make something more powerful than the retelling of tragedy, as in the collection's last line ("The Happy Couple"): "For now, we sing."
— Kendra DeColo
PANK Magazine
"...throughout Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows, the reader must reckon with the impossibility of unceasing grace in the face of violence, a grace which Leigh captures with a sharp-edged, heart-splitting beauty. She asks us what it means to endure on earth, instead of in the stars, after living trauma that's determined enough to end us."
— Rachel Mennies
On the Seawall / RonSlate.com
"Leigh's poems nakedly envision a world of complicated hope, and in doing so, create a foundation for that bridge over which we pass to remain intact, at least for a little longer. Leigh asks that we all participate in its remaking if we are willing to do the breaking."
— Tarfia Faizullah
American Microreviews
"By the end of the collection, I can't help feeling the same echoes of devastation and resolve. These are brave poems and a remarkable debut. I look forward to reading more from Leigh. Her words feel important, and they should be read with the care and love that good poems deserve."
— Sabastian H. Paramo
The Rumpus
"It's certain all of us will find both pain and beauty throughout our lives. But when we want to contemplate the configuration of their entwinement, and connect with our common humanity—that's when we can turn to poetry collections like Eugenia Leigh's Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows."
— Kenji C. Liu