Poems that radiate with incredible artistic vision and writerly craft


The Right Hand

Tupelo Press ▪︎ October 2024

Pain, piercing, and language: with urgent lyricism and lacunae on the page, The Right Hand explores the physical, emotional, and philosophical experiences of chronic pain, bodywork (especially acupuncture), and healing.  In the second half of the collection, the poet spends extended time with Bernini’s sculpture of The Ecstasy of St. Teresa in Rome, finding this famous scene of wounding to be in dialogue with her own experience of pain, as well as her suspension between languages and spiritual isolation. In The Right Hand, the hidden sites of the body speak, and Bernini’s centuries-old arrow pierces us with hurting eloquence. Read More →

 

“. . . these are beautiful poems, true to both body and soul. ”

Dan Beachy-Quick

 

“Pugh’s is the freshest, most rigorous voice in contemporary reviewing.”

Linda Gregerson

 

“Quiet virtuosity, complexly registered thinking-as-feeling . . . as original as she is intelligent.”

Tom Sleigh

“. . . her unabashed lyricism and genius for discovering resemblance make us see the world anew. . . .”

Phillis Levin

“No poet of her generation can match Christina Pugh’s sheer lyricism.”

Peter Campion

“a stunning accomplishment. . . . Each precisely measured phrase reminds us that of all musics, it is the music of the mind that is most satisfying in poetry.”

David St. John

“. . . Christina Pugh is an astute lexicographer of the heart.”

Billy Collins 

 
  • close up of open book

    THE BOOKS

    Explore Christina Pugh’s award-winning poetry collections and essays on poetry.

  • portrait of author, poet, and literary critic Christina Pugh

    THE AUTHOR

    Christina Pugh’s new book of essays on poetry, Ghosts and the Overplus, was just released by the University of Michigan Press “Poets on Poetry” series. She has also published five books of poems including Stardust Media (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020), winner of the Juniper Prize for Poetry. Her sixth book of poetry, The Right Hand, is forthcoming (Tupelo Press, 2024). The recipient of fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Poetry Society of America, the Bogliasco Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, and others, she is a professor in the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she was recently announced Distinguished Scholar of the Year in Humanities, Arts, Design, and Architecture.

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    NEWS & REVIEWS

    Read reviews, and explore news and media resources.