In the Laurels, Caught in Bloomington, MN

In the Laurels, Caught
is a collection of lighthearted, deep-rooted poems written around the Appalachian region of North Carolina in Madison County. An adventurous, intellectually restless native, Lee Ann Brown writes out of attachment but with the slant of a transplanted outsider. She investigates elements of local language, musicality, material culture, and landscape, using collage, found poetry, and oral history and anecdote.
A Daylily's blossom
only lasts one day
Binnorie O Binorie O
My grandmother showed me
how to have my say
O the glory O the glory
Now every time I see a faded drooping bud
I deadhead it like she did so the rest can live on
The story O the story
Lee Ann Brown
is professor of English at St. John's University. Her book
Polyverse
won the New American Poetry Series Award.
The Sleep That Changed Everything
appeared in 2003. She is founding editor of the small press Tender Buttons.