Jill Battson's highly anticipated new collection of poems, The Ecstatic Torture of Gratitude, pushes deep into the heart of the human condition. In lush and visceral language Jill explores loss, beauty, nature, Francis Bacon's ordered hoarding and the meaning of Martha Stewart. Jill's poems whisper like muted Miles Davis tunes melancholy in the ear, or shout their colours from the top of desert mesas. Many of the poems in this collection are a result of collaborative artist process with dancers, composers, singers and painters, but above all they will live in your memory like a perfect pearl long after their first reading.
Rich poems full of earth, love, light and wit. "I want to see my hands stained by the chlorophyll of their existence."
Robert Priest
An eclectic mix of lyric, narrative and ekphrastic poetry with a generous helping of humour reveals the range and depth of Jill Battson's newest collection. It's no surprise these poems brim with the names of friends and loved ones: Jill Battson's poetic generosity overflows.
Carolyn Smart (author of "Hooked - Seven Poems")