Description: "A stunning new collection from a master poet celebrated for her singular voice. From the award-winning poet known for her bracing honesty and sharp yet compassionate gaze, here is a new collection of poems that explore life, marriage, addiction, death, and heart-wrenching grief. By turns fiercely tender and incredibly wry, these poems urge us to confront the difficult aspects of life head-on."--
Review Quotes: Praise for Susan Musgrave and Exculpatory Lilies
"The sheer humanity and gift to show our fragile, broken selves is nothing less than prayer, as spoken in Musgrave's Exculpatory Lilies. That she brings us to the sacred ground of loss and grief, and then lifts us toward our own humility is a ceremony. A ceremony wherein we must bow down our heads to the fragility of all we know, the darkness and light we all must carry." --Judges' Citation, Griffin Poetry Prize"Musgrave's poetry is rooted in conversational phrases and natural observation interpolated with startling metaphors drawn from nature and everyday living. [Exculpatory Lilies] alights on many truthful moments." --EVENT magazine Praise for Susan Musgrave and Origami Dove "Enough tragedy to break your goddamn heart. But also enough craft to parse it for her readers. These poems might be bitter pills but they're coated with artisanal chocolate and gold leaf." --Winnipeg Free Press "Musgrave at her funniest. She hasn't lost her edge; in fact, she's been sharpening it." --Globe and Mail "Musgrave writes short, pristine poems, with the elegance of fresh tracks on snow. Her poem's stark lines are freighted with wisdom deep enough that I've yet to scrape the bottom." --Dalhousie Review "Through the collection's quiet, mindful acceptance of sorrow, Musgrave has managed to suck the pain out of it. Sorrow simply becomes another way to experience beauty." --Pacific Rim Review of Books