“The Blue Hour casts a blue spell, using the tropes and gestures of traditional fairy tales—riddles, disguises, wishes, shape-shifting, entrapment, escape, and transformation—to trace a daughter’s experience of incestuous abuse. With language as sonically and somatically intricate as the subject she narrates, Whitaker looks unflinchingly at an ancient taboo and the infinite hour of its endurance.”—Lisa Russ Spaar, author of Vanitas, Rough
“Whitaker’s skills with sentence and sound, with spare yet suggestive language, with telling juxtapositions, with metaphor and misdirection, make the unbearable bearable just long enough that it can be seen, contained, and transcended. These are riveting poems, hard won, from a poet of exceptional talent.”—Jim Peterson, author of Original Face
“Like a banked fire stoked into a blaze, The Blue Hour contains the power to warm you up and burn you down. I am enthralled by the stunning grace of Jennifer Whitaker’s vision. A spectacular debut.”—Camille T. Dungy, author of Smith Blue