The Original Instructions for the Perfect Preservation of Birds &c. by Carey McHugh

Selected and introduced by Rae Armantrout

It is not always easy to say what these poems are “about”—and that’s fine with me. It has something to do with the warp and weft of the world’s ongoing creation/destruction, the crosshatch of care and loss. I like the way it moves. This is fierce poetry.

—Rae Armantrout

Edition: 500 copies of the winning books were printed by the Prolific Group and designed by Gabriele Wilson.