Winner of the APR/Honickman First Book Award, selected by
Pulitzer Prize-winner Jericho Brown
Bright Shade is an appreciation of the wild woods,
the rolling hills, the Appalachian air, and the little rivers that were the
setting of Chelsea Harlan’s upbringing. The poems speak through the liminal
space between the body and its relationships to other bodies, and the human
relationship with nature—and so climate change is, inevitably, part of this
book''s undercurrent of grief. As the author navigates the high highs and the
low lows of manic depression, Bright Shade articulates the wonder that
accompanies sadness and the sadness that accompanies joy. Chelsea Harlan’s work
is humorous, indeed bittersweet (bright / shade), and a little strange in
exactly the right way.
