Prelude to Bruise

does] not apologize.’” —Poets at Work “For their journey on this beautifully clear but sweltering Saturday afternoon, they were not disappointed, treated to over a dozen readings of vintage O’Hara poems, as well as new poems written by the likes of Saeed Jones, author of Prelude to Bruise and the editor of BuzzfeedLGBT.” —HuffPost “These poems are tightly constructed, scary-beautiful, and lyrically brilliant, driven by a raw and devastating emotional power. He awes me.” —The Millions “Saeed Jones begins this electrifying book—one of the most exciting debut collections I’ve read in years—with a quotation from Kafka’s notebooks: ‘The man in ecstasy and the man drowning—both throw up their arms.’ It’s a powerful opening for these searing poems.” —Towleroad “In his first book of poetry, Jones blazes forth, his voice new, potent, lyrical, and deadly beautiful. Enveloping his words in the body, its politics, its genders and colors, the legacy of its trials and abuse, Jones sings truths from the perimeter, the disenfranchised, the ready to be heard.” —Bookshop Santa Cruz “Today my writing ambition, my heart, and my mind are expanded by my peers who are writing the books I read with breathless anticipation and envy.” —BuzzFeed “Riveting and heartening to read.” —The Dodge Blog “This book is so good it will give you night sweats.” —Greenlight Bookstore “The collection seems to begin again frequently, and end too soon.” —Lenny “I had to stop trying to read Saeed Jones’s debut, Prelude to Bruise, on the subway to avoid yelping with joy, weeping, or getting all hot and bothered in public.” —Work in Progress “Prelude to Bruise is a thunderous title for a first collection. It promises that a bruise will come later. It says that, even when we feel like we’re drowning, we can still be ecstatic.” —The Brooklyn Rail “Heartrending, lyrical, and raw.” —BuzzFeed “Ecstatic and haunting.” —Brooklyn Magazine “This is the type of book that merits clichéd hyperbole: because it will actually ‘leave you floored,’ ‘feeling naked’ (together, that's almost a Natalie Imbruglia lyric!), and ‘gasping for breath.’” —Flavorwire “Poems like ‘Post Apocalyptic Heartbreak,’ ‘History According to Boy,’ ‘Prelude to Bruise,’ and others will break your heart and force you to investigate and confront the unconscionable brutality of this nation.” —MELO “A compelling collection.” —Runestone “Saeed writes about blackness and gayness, fierce and thick and brave in every poem.” —Medium “Damn near genius.” —Shade “Saeed Jones is one of the English department's most distinguished graduates.”—WKU Herald