Prelude to Bruise
{{short description|2014 poetry collection by Saeed Jones}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Prelude to Bruise
| image = Prelude to Bruise (Jones book).png
| alt =
| caption = First edition cover
| author = Saeed Jones
| cover_artist = Syreeta McFadden (photo){{cite book|author=Saeed Jones|title=Prelude to Bruise|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xMI3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PR4|date=August 18, 2014|publisher=Coffee House Press|isbn=978-1-56689-384-8|page=4}}
Linda Koutsky (design)
| country = United States
| language = English
| genre = Poetry
| publisher = Coffee House Press
| pub_date = September 9, 2014
| 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
| isbn_note =
| dewey = 811/.6
| congress = PS3610.O6279 P74 2014
}}
Prelude to Bruise is a 2014 poetry collection by American author Saeed Jones, published by Coffee House Press on September 9, 2014.{{Cite web |url=https://coffeehousepress.org/products/prelude-to-bruise |title=Prelude to Bruise |website=Coffee House Press |accessdate=October 20, 2019}}{{Cite magazine |url=https://time.com/3433002/saeed-jones-prelude-to-bruise/ |title=Saeed Jones: "No One Is Safe" In These Poems |last=Feeney |first=Nolan |date=September 29, 2014 |magazine=Time |accessdate=October 20, 2019}}{{Cite magazine |last=Journey |first=Anna |author-link=Anna Journey |title=The Queer Baroque: On Saeed Jones's Prelude to Bruise |url=https://kenyonreview.org/kr-online-issue/2014-fall/selections/prelude-to-a-bruise-by-saeed-jones-738439/ |magazine=The Kenyon Review |edition=Fall 2014 |accessdate=October 20, 2019}}
Contents
| class="wikitable"
! style="width: 6em;" | # ! Title |
| | Anthracite |
| rowspan="14"|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 |
| rowspan="12"|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 |
| rowspan="12"|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 |
| rowspan="12"|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."{{Cite web |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-56689-374-9 |title=Fiction Book Review: Prelude to Bruise by Saeed Jones |date=September 1, 2014 |website=Publishers Weekly |accessdate=October 20, 2019}}
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."{{Cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2014/09/03/344582858/brilliant-unsparing-prelude-will-leave-a-bruise |title=Brilliant, Unsparing 'Prelude' Will Leave A Bruise |last=El-Mohtar |first=Amal |authorlink=Amal El-Mohtar |date=September 3, 2014 |website=NPR |accessdate=October 20, 2019}}
Awards and nominations
It won the 2015 Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award{{Cite web |url=http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/prelude-bruise |title=Prelude to Bruise |website=American Library Association |accessdate=October 20, 2019}} and the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry.{{Cite web |url=https://pen.org/2015-penjoyce-osterweil-award-for-poetry/ |title=2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry |date=February 2, 2015 |website=PEN America |accessdate=October 20, 2019}} It was a finalist for the 2015 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry,{{Cite web |url=http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Publishing-Triangles-27th-annual-Triangle-Awards-to-be-presented-/50777.html |title=Publishing Triangle's 27th annual Triangle Awards to be presented |date=March 10, 2015 |website=Windy City Times |accessdate=October 20, 2019}} the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry,{{Cite web |url=https://www.lambdaliterary.org/27th-annual-lambda-literary-award-finalists/ |title=27th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists |website=Lambda Literary Foundation |accessdate=October 20, 2019}} and the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-best-in-poetry-national-book-critics-circle-award-finalists/2015/03/10/6b81f06a-c2b9-11e4-ad5c-3b8ce89f1b89_story.html |title=The best in poetry: National Book Critics Circle Award finalists |last=Lund |first=Elizabeth |date=March 10, 2015 |newspaper=The Washington Post |accessdate=October 20, 2019}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prelude to Bruise}}
Category:American poetry collections
Category:Coffee House Press books
Category:Stonewall Book Award–winning works
Category:2014 LGBTQ-related literary works
{{poetry-collection-stub}}