Casualties of Honey
by Madison Gill
WINNER OF THE 2022 FLEDGE POETRY CHAPBOOK AWARD
"In Casualties of Honey, Madison Gill gives us love poems which illuminate what Faulkner said as “the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself” as she reckons with her own mortality through the lens of relationship. Is love worth it or not, is it a good thing, or a damaging thing. Rather than hiding from loving as a protection, she chooses to engage and feel “all the things” deeply. Gill chooses to believe in something rather than in nothing—and this decision is transformational. Gill finds healing through the process of loving. More than romantic aspects of love are here as well as the poet (like the rest of us) must navigate our contemporary world of the 9 to 5 workweek, the price of gas, domestic chores, the appearance of gray hair, struggles with the healthcare system, social media, and spirituality."
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—David Anthony Martin, author of The Ground Nest
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"Madison Gill’s chapbook, Casualties of Honey, awakens the imagination with ripe imagery and storytelling. She embraces worry for wildfires, she laments broken economies, she praises Hygeia, and she slips into multiple lifetimes with a lover. Whether it be overthinking a toothache or the complex debate of when to do the dishes and keep the household peace, she reminds us to stay connected and to laugh. Gill’s poems are defiantly full of love like the flight of a honeybee, saving the world one flower at a time. They also instruct us to fight for memory and to fight for our futures."
—Juan J. Morales, author of The Handyman's Guide to End TImes
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"Madison Gill is that rare combination of old soul and fresh air. Her work is unafraid to prod the tender places in life while celebrating their sensitivity. With Casualties of Honey, she leans into the frenetic uncertainty of youth, speaking in a voice clear and unjaded. It is a collection of poems familiar and alive to her generation, framed with the trappings of Millennial existence, but grounded in the soulful traditions of legacy poetry. As its name suggests, Casualties of Honey is both sweet and enrapturing, and an outstanding arrival for this Colorado poet."
— James Stuart, Twenty Bellows
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"These poems have vitality, strength and clarity. Gill has her finger on the pulse of what matters, and on life itself: poetry's ancient heartbeat burning in the voice of a modern millennial."
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—Tracy Lightsey, Poet and Educator, Montrose, Colorado
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"Gill is a loyalist of the heart. If the speaker in these poems goes down, it won’t be without her golden pen, the pocked armor of her compassion, and a fist full of dauntless, devil-may-care incantations to love bravely, honestly and with intention. This poet knows what is at stake. She reminds us that it’s not warriors who are needed to fight the coming age of loss and despair, but rather a disciple's quiet resolution; pure devotion to one another, dedication to the love of wild things, and an all-out, fearless surrender to beauty. Look inside these pages to see what this new generation can mend with a bit of grit and honey."
—Kierstin Bridger, Author of All Ember, and the Willa Award-
winning Demimonde from Women Writing the West
Madison Gill (she/her) is a poet from Montrose, Colorado. She received her BA in English from Colorado State University-Pueblo. She was the 2021 winner of the Cantor Prize awarded by the Telluride Arts Institute’s Talking Gourds Poetry Program. Her poetry has been widely published both online and in print, locally, nationally and even internationally. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Twenty Bellows, Beyond the Veil Press, Sledgehammer Lit, Tiny Spoon, and From Whispers to Roars among others. Madison lives with her fiancé and their cat in a tiny home at the foot of the San Juan Mountains. Find her on instagram @sweetmint_poet
Paperback
pp. 57
ISBN: 978-1-957483-09-2
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$16.00
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