Guilty Prayer: poems by Steve Henn

'Guilty Prayer is most stunning for how much it fits into a small space. All of this, no doubt, in praise of Steve Henn's brilliantly malleable poetic voice, which shifts tones, moods, and paces seamlessly between pages and between lines. I love this book for how it faces me, how it speaks to me, how it trusts me with what it knows. Reading this has made me a more generous person.' - Hanif Abdurraqib


'Lithium and late-life sobriety - yes, please, and a music culled from the heartland as if from the pen of some Midwestern O'Hara in a time of 'dank memes' and the still reverberating echoes of Sparklehorse. Romance and failure, puking after a first sober Thanksgiving, the ghost of a long lost love, and poetry with 'surreal teenagers.' I recognize my place in Henn's America, in these days of no advantages, shattered dreams, and enough joy and art to live a life by.' - David Dodd Lee


'Steve Henn peels back sorrow to reveal other emotions coiled inside it. Humor, bewilderment, guilt, tenderness. Grief as nexus, grief as quicksilver. Death and addiction are his subjects, yes. But Henn's language, like grief, is never static: it spirals into poems that are gripping, electrifying. I felt many things reading his work. Sorrow, yes. But also awe and gratitude.' - Eduardo C. Corral