“Open Auguries and Divinations, and what we notice at once is the primary, confident appeal of the poet’s voice. Heather Treseler is compelling. We immediately want to listen to her, the way we might listen to a lyric singer full of melody and rhythm that we encounter unexpectedly on a street corner. Her voice brims with harmonies and modulated tones. But make no mistake, running through all her lyricism is a staring, unblinking intelligence that informs us about what she sees, what she celebrates, about those events that trigger her skepticism, and those for which she reserves her frank anger and objection. Her great theme centers on the surprises, good and bad, inherent in intimate relationships. Her experience ranges from suburban sexual assaults and, in The Lucie Odes, repeated male sexual violence and intimidation. But with equal conviction she registers the strains and stresses of friendship, and in “Louisiana Requiem” imagines the emotional divisions of a close friend who cares for her dying mother in hospice while she is herself pregnant, and thus about to become a mother herself. The poet teases out complicated, ardent allegiances. She is in conversation with Anne Sexton, Maxine Kumin and Catullus, of all people, and shares her passionate knowledge with Frank Bidart. Likewise, she is attentive to the subtleties and glories of her own intimate partnerships. Her vision is inclusive, generous, wide-ranging, and enthralling. Here, taken as a whole, we have a tremendously wise and wonderful new collection of poetry.”

Brad chose as semi-finalists: Amy Spade, from Oakland, California for Uncertain Serenade, and John Hicks from Placitas, New Mexico for Not All Are Linked to Land.

And he chose as Honorable Mentions: Jo Brachman, Pine Lake Georgia for Prayers to a Small Stone, Marcia Hurlow, Olathe Kansas for Natural History, and Anthony Botti, Boston Massachusetts, for Where it Will.