Poetry. Winner of our 11th Annual Book Prize Contest, chosen by Matthea Harvey. CEREMONY is Mary Austin Speaker's first collection of poems. The book begins in bewilderment and ends in a hurricane of trust. In between are collaged epistles, fragmented love poems, and a litany of mutations.

"This book arrives in a shimmery white envelope, woven of strongest spider silk, impossible to open. If, however, you whisper 'yes' to it, it opens of its own accord and showers you with snow. A handbook called The New Rules of Causality in which 'hillsides follow lions' lands at your ankle, a Word Kaleidoscope rolls down the hall. Reach in to dig out the tiny boxes lodged in the far corner of the package. They are labeled 'mystery' and 'hope.'"--Matthea Harvey