about Drift

Brianna Low's Drift is a lucid and searing exploration of the female body, pinned against the feral blood of language and myth. Consider this exquisite meditation: "After I read this I look into the mirror/and wonder where the light goes,/if the darkness pouring into the world/is because of the blood seeping out./ The poems you find in Drift never look away from the darkening eye of the heart that insists, even in its approaching blindness, upon transformation. Low's voice is wrenching and honest, drawing us into a psychological landscape that treads the difficult, unsettled map of desire and injury in the name of what is both sacred and mortal. Low brings a startling and original perspective to feminine figures such as Laura Ingalls and Joan of Arc. The writing is incandescent and brutal as it bears witness to the ecstatic and bleak hunt of spirituality and faith. Hunger and surrender expand through the eyes of Low's vision. We are asked to gaze within at our own fears and desires. Low fearlessly demands, " "Who am I to say this is not about love?/The way it guts you."

— Contest Judge Rachel Eliza Griffiths