Eros Rex - by Haley Hodges (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Eros Rex introduces Haley Hodges' vibrant poetic voice, at once sensual and reverent, restless and devoted. Hodges' sonically impactful lines are brash and honest in addressing God, and these poems viscerally situate spirituality in the everyday world, whether in Burger King or the back yard.

Review Quotes

"Haley Hodges' Eros Rex is a bold and electric debut, sparkling with music, metaphysical seeking, and carnal yearning. These desirous, winsome, provocative poems relish in the pleasures of rhyme and delight with their surprising proximities of archaic and contemporary speech, exploring Christian devotion through a refreshingly sexy lens. Flirtatious and profound, Hodges has written this book for all of us who 'require a book of uncommon prayer / with a spine of real bone.'"

-Gabrielle Bates, author of Judas Goat

"With wit, wisdom, and remarkable jazz, Haley Hodges' debut collection, Eros Rex, proves to be a genuine interrogation of appearances, keen to apprehend the heart of the matter, the heart of our matter, accompanied by resilient joy, a deep and not-to-be-denied joy."

-Scott Cairns, author of Slow Pilgrim and Chemo with Coleridge

"In this stunning debut collection, Haley Hodges probes the carnal aspects of Incarnation with unflinching honesty, disarming wit, and consummate craftsmanship. In poems that are both fierce and tender-often at the same time-Hodges considers how the hungers of the body and the hungers of the soul are so often present and noshing at the same table. Augustine knew this; so did Flannery O'Connor, and, more recently, poets like Anne Sexton, Marie Howe, and Kim Addonizio, and the poems in Eros Rex fit comfortably in this lineage. What makes them unique is the stark mirror of self-examination Hodges holds up to her subject: the remembrance-part sacred, part profane-of a profound consummation, in poems marked by anguish, resilience, and arresting beauty."

-Jennifer Maier, author of Now, Now and The Occupant