Prelude to Bruise

Prelude to Bruise is a 2014 poetry collection by American author Saeed Jones, published by Coffee House Press on September 9, 2014.^[2][3][4]

Prelude to Bruise

First edition cover
Author	Saeed Jones
Cover artist	Syreeta McFadden (photo)[1] Linda Koutsky (design)[1]
Language	English
Genre	Poetry
Publisher	Coffee House Press
Publication date	September 9, 2014
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (paperback)
Pages	124
Awards	2015 Barbara Gittings Literature Award 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry
ISBN	978-1-56689-374-9
Dewey Decimal	811/.6
LC Class	PS3610.O6279 P74 2014

Contents

#	Title
	Anthracite
1	Insomniac
	Closet of Red
	The Blue Dress
	Isaac, after Mount Moriah
	Pretending to Drown
	Boy in a Stolen Evening Gown
	Boy at Edge of Woods
	Terrible Boy
	Daedalus, after Icarus
	Boy in a Whalebone Corset
	Boy Found inside a Wolf
	Boy at Threshold
	After the First Shot
	Last Call
2	"Don't Let the Sun Set on You"
	Prelude to a Bruise
	Coyote Cry
	Jasper, 1998
	Lower Ninth
	Drag
	Kudzu
	Beheaded Kingdom
	Thralldom
	Cruel Body
	Thallium
	He Thinks He Can Leave Me
3	Secondhand (Smoke)
	Body & Kentucky Bourbon
	Eclipse of My Third Life
	Guilt
	Sleeping Arrangement
	Apologia
	Ketamine & Company
	Thralldom II
	Skin Like Brick Dust
	Kingdom of Trick, Kingdom of Drug
	Blue Prelude
	In Nashville
4	Highway 407
	Meridian
	Mercy
	Mississippi Drowning
	Casket Sharp
	Dominion
	The Fabulist
	Room without a Ghost
	Dirge
	After Last Light
	Hour between Dog & Wolf
	Postapocalyptic Heartbeat
5	History, according to Boy
6	Last Portrait as Boy

Reception

Publishers Weekly praised the collection, writing, "Solid from start to finish, possessing amazing energy and focus, a bold new voice in poetry has announced itself."^[5]

Writing for NPR, poet Amal El-Mohtar said, "There are too many exceptional poems here to single out, and not a single one that didn't at least impress me."^[6]

Awards and nominations

It won the 2015 Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award^[7] and the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry.^[8] It was a finalist for the 2015 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry,^[9] the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry,^[10] and the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.^[11]