Poetry. Lucia Perillo's hard-edged yet vulnerable poems attempt to reconcile the comic impulse—the humorous deflection of anxiety—with the complications and tragedies of living in a mortal, fragile "meat cage." Perillo's surgical honesty—and biting, nourishing humor—chronicle human failings, sexuality, and the collision of nature with the manufactured world. Whether recalling her former career as a naturalist experimenting on white rats or watching birds from her wheelchair, she draws the reader into unforgettable places rich in image and story. "Lucia Perillo's poems cannot be ignored or forgotten.... In imagery as startlingly original as Anne Sexton's and in philosophical tone as harsh and courageous as Adrienne Rich's, Perillo creates poems of great energy and power"—Choice.

Author City: SEATTLE, WA USA

Lucia Perillo's is the author of five books of poetry. Among her many awards are the Norma Farber First Book Award, the Kate Tufts Prize, the Balcones Prize, the Kingsley Tufts Award and the MacArthur Fellowship. Her critically acclaimed memoir, I've Heard the Vultures Singing: Field Notes on Poetry, Illness, and Nature (Trinity University Press), was published in 2007. INSEMINATING THE ELEPHANT (Copper Canyon Press, 2009) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and received the Bobbitt award from the Library of Congress. She lives in Seattle, Washington.

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