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"""Only my contradictions hold me upright,"" claims one of the poems in this ferociously lucid and often funny new volume by M.F. McAuliffe. On the one hand it batters us with Lear-like bleak assertions (""Time and heaven and earth are stones. / They grind us between them"") -- assertions it goes on to illustrate, most impressively, in the final series of poems retelling the Orpheus myth. On the other hand, the very rhythm, almost reassuring, of other aphoristic conclusions suggests an admiration despite everything for the world it so passionately curses and condemns (""to walk through the city and know it for rubble-- / This is a dream as old as the soul""). -- Luisa Valenzuela, author of Clara, Strange Things Happen Here, The Lizard's Tail, Black Novel (with Argentines), and Deathcats This book takes the reader to ancient Rome, straight from the mouth of Catullus to the person sitting right beside us. McAuliffe makes these poems relevant to everyday life in the present, yet channels ancient memories; reminding us that some things are eternal and can never leave our consciousness. --Amy Temple Harper, author of Cramped Uptown"

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"Praise for Crucifixes & Other Friday Poems: ""Only my contradictions hold me upright,"" claims one of the poems in this ferociously lucid & often funny new volume by M.F. McAuliffe. On the one hand it batters us with Lear-like bleak assertions (""Time and heaven and earth are stones. / They grind us between them"") - assertions it goes on to illustrate, most impressively, in the final series of poems retelling the Orpheus myth. On the other hand, the very rhythm, almost reassuring, of other aphoristic conclusions suggests an admiration despite everything for the world it so passionately curses and condemns (""to walk through the city and know it for rubble- / This is a dream as old as the soul""). - Luisa Valenzuela, author of Clara, Strange Things Happen Here, The Lizard's Tail, Black Novel (with Argentines), Deathcats These poems turn me inside out. They are close and closer and wound beautifully. -Amy Temple Harper, author of Cramped Uptown Praise for M.F. McAuliffe's Seattle (a novella): M.F. McAuliffe's Seattle tells the story of a bereft widow and disillusioned photographer working as a librarian at an image agency. Amid the digitally strained commerce of a photojournalism company her secretive impressions and fragmentary memories streak through the prose in poetic bursts of tension, anger and doubt. The nervous power of the writing is reminiscent of old style photography, when film would be processed in developer so that a latent image could become visible. One feels the story beneath Seattle emerging with the same chemical intensity, its meaning rising before you moment by moment. - Mark Mordue, author, Dastgah: Diary of A Head Trip A marvelous stretch of work. - Matthew Stadler, author, Deventer, The Dissolution of Nicholas Dee, Chloe Jarren's La Cucaracha, & Where We Live Now; Publication Studio co-founder Back office transactions, cavernous electronic databases, suspicious dealings, duplicity, innocence, the complexities of lost love ... The controlled rage throughout Seattle does the memory of Mother Jones proud. - Julie Madsen, editor, W*O*R*K** Magazine"

Praise for Crucifixes & Other Friday Poems: Only my contradictions hold me upright, claims one of the poems in this ferociously lucid & often funny new volume by M.F. McAuliffe. On the one hand it batters us with Lear-like bleak assertions ( Time and heaven and earth are stones. / They grind us between them ) - assertions it goes on to illustrate, most impressively, in the final series of poems retelling the Orpheus myth. On the other hand, the very rhythm, almost reassuring, of other aphoristic conclusions suggests an admiration despite everything for the world it so passionately curses and condemns ( to walk through the city and know it for rubble- / This is a dream as old as the soul ). - Luisa Valenzuela, author of Clara, Strange Things Happen Here, The Lizard's Tail, Black Novel (with Argentines), Deathcats These poems turn me inside out. They are close and closer and wound beautifully. -Amy Temple Harper, author of Cramped Uptown Praise for M.F. McAuliffe's Seattle (a novella): M.F. McAuliffe's Seattle tells the story of a bereft widow and disillusioned photographer working as a librarian at an image agency. Amid the digitally strained commerce of a photojournalism company her secretive impressions and fragmentary memories streak through the prose in poetic bursts of tension, anger and doubt. The nervous power of the writing is reminiscent of old style photography, when film would be processed in developer so that a latent image could become visible. One feels the story beneath Seattle emerging with the same chemical intensity, its meaning rising before you moment by moment. - Mark Mordue, author, Dastgah: Diary of A Head Trip A marvelous stretch of work. - Matthew Stadler, author, Deventer, The Dissolution of Nicholas Dee, Chloe Jarren's La Cucaracha, & Where We Live Now; Publication Studio co-founder Back office transactions, cavernous electronic databases, suspicious dealings, duplicity, innocence, the complexities of lost love ... The controlled rage throughout Seattle does the memory of Mother Jones proud. - Julie Madsen, editor, W*O*R*K** Magazine

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