The Foliate Head

Her strong and inventive metaphors and similes evoke an otherness that only Coleridge attained . . . wholly beautiful and brilliant. Youmans is a writer of rare ability whose works will one day be studied by serious students of poetry. Greg Langley, The Baton Rouge Advocate, 2011. When I think of Marly Youmans work, the word that comes to mind is magic. By this, I mean not only her language, but her evocation of mystery. Youmans poems always seem utterly new and startlingly familiar .... She is a poet working at the height of her powers. Kim Bridgford, poet, editor of Mezzo Cammin and director of The West Chester University Poetry Conference. When a person reads a Marly Youmans poem, all the spaces round about fall silent. The busy world is hushed, and her words, each one perfect and pinned in its perfect place, rise into the silence and burst into light. I, a poor mortal, can explain her work in no other terms. Howard Bahr, author of The Year of Jubilo and Pelican Road.


Genre: Literary Fiction