Girl Hurt

by E. J. Miller Laino

“Miller-Laino’s voice is vibrant and compelling in these intimate poems about family, work, and the hard road from silence into language.” — Ploughshares “E.J. Miller Laino is a tough, honest poet. She is liable to say anything. Her poems are startling, from their frank treatment of sex and death to the abundance of hard, true metaphors. This is more than a confrontation with daily pain and fear, however; these poems celebrate survival, the durability of family, the liberation of unheard voices, especially female and working-class voices. The poems of E.J. Miller Laino transcend, with all the power and beauty of flight.” —Martín Espada “ Girl Hurt is a vibrant and compelling book, less a “collection” than a spiritual memoir, in which the stature of poetry restores to the word “recovery” its full complexity, depth, and human resonance. One of the thrills of reading it lies in its balance of virtuosity and urgency: the reader has a feeling of watching a top notch slalomer skiing for her