by Lee Colin Thomas
Winner of the 2020 Brighthorse Prize in poetry, Honey in the Dark, is now available from Brighthorse Books.
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Comments from Advance Readers
Much happens in the dark in the marvelous book, Honey in the Dark, by Lee Colin Thomas. So much is quietly loved as dusk falls, and then long past dusk: trees, windows shining in the distance, broken hearts, longing, even empty golf courses. This book feels deeply American, situated inside a solitude that sometimes feels calm, sometimes desperate as it reaches out towards another, toward others. The physical world shines in these pages like the skin of the gin-soaked olive Thomas writes about in one poem. Thomas’s voice can be playful and wistful, but most often it feels grounded in ancient truths given new homes in these gorgeous poems.
Jim Moore, author of Underground and Invisible Strings, four-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for poetry
Honey in the Dark is a confident, spell-casting debut by Lee Colin Thomas. Once inside the text, I felt held in that constant dream writers reach for—the dream in this book moves silently, with a kind of spiritual vision, poem after poem. Hundreds of images that surprise, that we know are right, and a tone of voice that honors unity, that reminds us these are the real and imagined worlds the poet wants us to consider, linger in, be possessed by. Small and large transformations are intuited, imagined, then accomplished. A beautiful book, one that makes us eager for the next, and the next.
Deborah Keenan, author of ten collections of poetry, and a book of writing ideas, from tiger to prayer
For years, readers of poetry have asked me whether a book of Lee Colin Thomas poems exists, and if not, when there might be such a book. Now I can say: here is Honey in the Dark. Here are the olives and the salt and the “communion with stillness.” Here are deft and intimate and charming poems that never fail to captivate. Here is the “April moon washing its face” and a universe that Thomas reveals as wondrous, “flat as paper, clean as invitation.” Yes.
Katrina Vandenberg, author of The Alphabet Not Unlike the World and Atlas: Poems
Simultaneously sensual and philosophical, the poems in Honey in the Dark take the time they need to build, sometimes to a startling revelation, and sometimes to a perfect, perfectly ordinary moment. These sensual poems dwell on the beautiful, daily details that accumulate over the course of a lifetime: “After bread and salad, salt of olives/ slick with gin. After evening-smeared plates stacked in the sink,/ I step outside to sound the radius of a night” Thomas writes in “Late Radius.” Later, in “Disembark,” the poet describes how it feels to return home after a day away, where the simple act of drinking a beer becomes something transcendent: “Take another swig, a loose/ mouthful of light in a room.” In “Lifeguard,” he writes about watching a lifeguard at a pool, and the sense of want and longing is palpable: “I watch him dive into the blue./ Body bending a comma/ beneath the surface. His fingers/ skim the secret slick/ of the drain’s open mouth.” Thomas’ narrator is always seeking: childhood memories, moments from a trip abroad, and a sense of his place in a world that seems, sometimes, to whirl around him. The narrator looks everywhere for connection and alignment, between his memory and his body, and between himself and a lover. Eating breakfast with a new acquaintance, the narrator’s intention is clear: “You brought the paper; I brought my appetite.” Later, watching his companion eat, he says “Sop it up/ with a corner of crust and lick/ jelly right from your thumb. Damn/ what a mouth. Damn/ what a meal.” The book’s final section opens with “Going Somewhere,” where it’s clear that the narrator has found his life mate: “Then one night, side by side/ in bed, we closed our eyes…” The straightforward leap into the relationship is refreshing. Honey in the Dark is a beautiful collection. The work is expertly crafted, the language precise. The details in each poem add up to a lovely, cohesive whole.
William Reichard, author of Our Delicate Barricades Downed and The Night Horse: New and Selected Poems
Lee Colin Thomas’ poetry explores with quiet amazement states of being alive that are brimming with longings, memories, and mysteries. The poet, whether alone or in a throng at a party, swim pool, or convention, senses and reveals in a tender way the potential for connections with people and things around him. Thomas’ imagination makes leaps and creates surprising and sensual metaphors, such as “peaches tiger-striped from the grill” and “consciousness a bright tangle of thread attractive to wind.” His skillful writing has unique descriptions and gorgeous word choices, yet is unpretentious. Readers will find the intimate tone of Honey in the Dark deeply appealing as if a dear, smart friend is sharing secrets and essential truths.
Margaret Hasse, author of Shelter and Between Us, among other poetry collections
Lee Colin Thomas’s Honey in the Dark is a spectacular collection built of poems that “flare again and again.” Thomas’s precise and descriptive language and his vivid images result in captivating surprises. The poems combine to advance the idea that desire and possibility bloom in the same way small or commonplace moments are magnified when juxtaposed with life’s grand events. I admire how the past, present, and future coexist and swirl in this smart and sensuous book. Honey in the Dark is powered by keen observations concerning the self and human beings in all the places human beings are found – at home, at school, at work, abroad, out to dinner with friends, and within the majestic and sorrowful natural world.
Michael Kleber-Diggs, author of Worldly Things
Photo of boy with leaves by Markus Spiske on Unsplash