"I was stunned by this magnificent debut–here is the voice of a poet I will be reading again and again." —Aria Aber

Gabrielle Bates’s electric debut collection Judas Goat plumbs the depths of intimate relationships. The book’s eponymous animal is used to lead sheep to slaughter while its own life is spared, and its harrowing existence echoes through this spellbinding collection of forty poems, which wrestle with betrayal and forced obedience, violence and young womanhood, and the “forbidden felt language” of sexual and sacred love. These poems conjure encounters with figures from scriptures, domesticated animals eyeing the wild, and mothering as a shapeshifting, spectral force; they question what it means to love another person and how to exorcise childhood fears. All the while, the Deep South haunts, and no matter how far away the speaker moves, the South always draws her back home.

In confession, in illumination, Bates establishes herself as an unflinching witness to the risks that desire necessitates, as Judas Goat holds readers close and whispers its unforgettable lines.

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Rich with myth, scripture and childhood memory, these poems were impossible to turn away from.

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The debut’s sequences on mourning, mothers, and marriage consider the ways in which encounters with nonhuman animals reveal the deception, purchase, and stakes of human behavior.

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Bates fills her debut with intense imagery and surprising truths. . . . These yearning poems offer intriguing descriptions and insights.

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Thrillingly bold. . . . unique in approach, mischievous in its navigation of ideas, and lush yet controlled in its use of language.

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Dazzling… Bates’s scintillating lyricism makes it a thrilling and unforgettable read.

– Electric Literature, A Best Poetry Collection of 2023

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Remarkable... One of America’s most unique voices... Gabrielle Bates is one part rock star, one part bard, offering a debut that perfectly balances an unflinching, badass attitude with the practiced precision of an experienced student of poetics.