Rodeo in Reverse: Poems

by Lindsey Alexander

Picture reversing a rodeo: the rider flies back onto the horse, the horse bucks into stillness. A whirling cast of characters engage in self-interrogation and self-discovery and wrestle in similar fashion in the pages of Rodeo in Reverse, a debut collection from Lindsey Alexander, which Sean Hill calls "the genuine article." Both time machine and microscope, Rodeo in Reverse is woven from bits of Americana: married life, art history, pioneers, and witches. These poems effortlessly traverse personal and historical pasts with tenderness and unrivaled humor. They offer a tour of American landscape—the trees with bitter crop of the South; the plains of the Midwest; the duels of a cartoonish Wild West. At once a wily romp and a lyric sweep, Rodeo in Reverse considers the possibilities and failures of domestic life on the never-ending quest of rounding up, and defining, the self. Rodeo in Reverse is the winner of the 2017 New Southern Voices Poetry Prize.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

Published September 4, 2018

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these poems and read them twice. To me, they seemed to be positioning expectations from tradition, literature, and family against the realities the poet is observing in her own relationships and desires. I also felt the reality of the midwest in some of these poems, something I know well after living four years in a small town and working at the church that seems so familiar in the poem that mentions it.

I found online versions of some of the poems I liked best:

Good Me Attempts to Neutralize, Rescue, or Otherwise Stifle Bad Me (read online at The Mondegreen)

THIS BONE SHALL DRY UP AND HOPE SHALL BE LOST (read online at Diagram... sisters, am I right?)

SAUDADE [UNSPILL THE SALT] (read online at The Mackinac Magazine)

Thanks to the publisher (my local Hub City Press) for approving my request in Edelweiss. This debut collection came out September 4, 2018.

[Rebecca McKanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The work of it’s more to do with belief. The miracle’s just a part of the waiting. Like,/get this: After coming down from space, astronauts must lie in bed for weeks.”

This is a formidable collection, covering so many diverse topics but always feeling cohesive through the author’s humor and snark, beautiful use of language, startling imagery, and willingness to take us through time and place. No matter where the book leads us, we land in a place that makes us take stock of the personal and historical and how the two are irrevocably linked.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's a book I expect to be rather evangelical about. Lindsey Alexander's prize-winning, debut collection is a joy to read. The most obvious thing I appreciate is how much of the content I recognize and have wondered about myself--"But What of the Wife," for example, was validating to read, as it considers what became of the Buddha's wife after he left her for a life in pursuit of enlightenment--something I have written about a lot in my journal, but which Alexander here nails dead-on. Her language--especially her verbs--allows her to consider the interaction of the everyday and the divine, showing us how fuzzy that distinction actually is.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can I put into words what this book means to me? I've read several of these poems individually over the years, but altogether they really pack a wallop. Profound, but not overwrought. Funny, but not cheap. Personal, yet relatable. No "imposter from the future," Lindsey Alexander is the real deal, right now.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wouldn't have put out a book I didn't think was good. I still have affection for it and for the person, not exactly me anymore, who wrote it.

[Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled on this through the Hub City Press site and loved the title. An incredible collection of poetry that I read slowly, to savor.

[Laura Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are funny, charming, insightful poems with undercurrents of quiet wisdom. It's a book I know I'll return to again and again.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rodeo in Reverse is a fiercely witty and creative collection of poems. Each one showcases intensely observant, relatable, and often nostalgic storytelling. So good!!

[Ryan Laferney · Rating 4 out of 5]

a witty and insightful collection of poems.

[sage short · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best poetry collections i have ever read !!!

[Maria Hiers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yeah

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Approachable, relatable, and beautiful. Tender and quiet without being smooth or soft.