The Dirt She Ate

Minnie Bruce Pratt is one of those rare poets who can take on the world of the deep interior self, and the world of 'issues' and current events, with equal lyricism and power. . . . Pratt's poems seem to be hymns to this need to taste the world, to glory in the experience of living, even when that living is painful.

Minnie Bruce Pratt's work continues to grow finer, braver, and more illuminating with every line she writes. . . . If you read only one book of poetry this year, 'The Dirt She Ate' should be it.

One of the best books of gay poetry in 2003.

Pratt writes with candescent intensity, almost unfettered feeling and graphic frankness. . . . She is slave to passion and proud of the fact.

Like a long-awaited visit from a dear friend, a new volume of poems by Minnie Bruce Pratt is always a time to celebrate. . . . Each of these poems is its own painting, its own snapshot, a light turned on some unexpected longing.

Reminds readers of Pratt's strengths: her lyric directness, humor, and narrative drive—and especially of [her] sheer brilliance and energy . . .

As always, Pratt is an outsider we can count on to look in, struggle forward, and report what's necessary.