Erin Belieu

Slant Six Erin Belieu

"Erin Belieu . . . is always ready to surprise, to astonish, and, ultimately, to defy comparison."?Boston Book Review

"[One] of America's finest poets."?Robert Olen Butler

Erin Belieu's fourth collection, Slant Six, is an inundation of the humor and horror in contemporary American life?from the last saltine cracked in the sleeve, to the kitty-cat calendar in an office cubicle. With its prophecies of impending destruction, and a simultaneous flood of respect for Americans, Erin Belieu's poems close like Ziploc bags around a human heart.

From "12-Step":

I am considering
lighthouses

in a completely new light?

their butch neutrality, their grand
but modest surfaces.

A lighthouse could appear
here at any moment.

I have been making this effort,
placing myself in uncomfortable positions,

only for the documented health benefits . . .

Erin Belieu is the author of three books, and her poems have appeared in Best American Poetry, the New York Times, and the Atlantic. Belieu co-founded VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and currently directs the creative writing program at Florida State University. She lives in Tallahassee, Florida.