Reviews
Lady Wing Shot
Hillbilly Madonna
“Wagner’s image of the hillbilly Madonna is the incarnation of the paradoxical, impossible role which women are expected to fill. A role that requires holiness measures women against an impossible standard, a standard which categorizes women as unclean or impure when they inevitably fall short of saintliness. That role and its standards are exactly what Wagner exorcizes from her lineage in this book, an exorcism which is baptismal in its effect.
From surprising similes like “Morning / spreads like the thin veil of blood around the brain” to enjambed lines packed with tension and dual (and dueling) meanings, Wagner shows an intelligent and passionate command. In “Captivity Narrative,” Wagner proclaims: “[I]t never matters / how you get out, only that you / always do.” The ultimate testament of Hillbilly Madonna is one of reassurance and hope, and Wagner is confident in her manifestation of the life she desires.”
- John McCarthy for Poetry Northwest (2023)
“The poems, mostly written in free verse with an occasional prose poem, have a story arc as deftly told as any well-written Appalachian literature. A family in turmoil, violence, an opioid and heroin crisis, poverty, birth, religiosity, and a sister-daughter-mother-grandmother caught in it all—these are the primary elements in this unflinching collection. Thus, the poems touch on some of the same topics readers have encountered in such works as Demon Copperhead. Yet Wagner’s fine words rise above the tropes to find a complicated, often painful, yet ultimately transcendent look at a place, a family, and a slice of the family’s culture.
If you are a casual reader of poetry looking for gentle words about sunrise over the mountains and spring flowers in the forest, come to Hillbilly Madonna carefully: these poems are intense, unsettling works of art. And yet, in keeping with the juxtaposition of tender and tough throughout this collection, there are phrases as beautiful as sunrise and flowers blooming.”
- Claire Matturro for the Southern Literary Review (2023)
“The dark force Wagner describes can be grief, violence, trauma, sexism, and more, but its most tangible form is substance addiction. Opioid addiction is the evil snaking through this speaker’s hometown, family, and friends.”
- Laura Eppinger for Vagabond City Lit (2022)
“As a writer from southern Ohio who is familiar with the landscapes Wagner conjures, I easily pictured the gentle rolling hills and backwoods hollers described in these poems. However, the reach of her poems and the difficult topics with which they grapple (patriarchy, Christianity, substance abuse, misogyny) extend far beyond central Appalachia and even the much-contended boundaries of Appalachia, loping into the hearts and minds of readers, especially women readers, wherever they may find themselves. Hillbilly Madonna reminds us that even if we are “a platter of stone, bones / stacked on top of each other,” we are still capable of miracles.”
- Jessica Cory for Still: The Journal (2023)
“Many experiences described in Hillbilly Madonna are ruthless and dark, but the compassion in Wagner's approach never wavers. And that compassion is perhaps what lingers longest. In the midst of the darkest cycles of turmoil and trauma, these poems insist upon glimmers of another possible future, one reborn and unburdened.”
Emily Choate for Chattanooga Times Free Press (2022)
Swan Wife
Interviews
Ohio Poetry Association Poetry Spotlight
Craft discussion of series poems alongside Emily Perez for Nancy Reddy’s Write More Be Less Careful
Appearance on The Chapbook Podcast to discuss Tumbling After: Listen Here
Interview with Speaking of Marvels blog: Click here
Features
Poetry Society of America’s In Their Own Words
Awards
Winner of the 2022 Blue Lynx Prize (for Lady Wing Shot)
Winner of a 2022 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award
Winner of the 2021 Cider Press Review Editors Prize (for Swan Wife)
Winner of the 2020 Driftwood Press Manuscript Prize (for Hillbilly Madonna)
2021 National Poetry Series Finalist
Runner up, 2020 Ironhorse Trifecta
Finalist New Ohio Review NORward Prize
Book Award Finalist: PANK (2 years), Persea Books (2 years), Black Lawrence Press St. Lawrence Prize, Ghost Peach Press First/Second Book Award, Cider Press Review, Brickhouse Books Wicked Women Prize
Best New Poets Nomination (2020)
Pushcart and Best of the Net nominations, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Winner of a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award, 2019
Finalist for the Palm Beach Poetry Festival’s Thomas Lux Prize
Finalist for the Fairy Tale Review Award
Finalist for the Edna St Vincent Millay Prize, 2018
Finalist in Five Oaks Press Chapbook competition, 2015
Semifinalist in the Sundress Press chapbook competition, 2013
The Danny L. Miller Award for Advanced Graduate Study
The Juniper Summer Writing Institute Work Study Scholarship
Best of Section Award for my essay “Young and Driven: How to Draw Out and Preserve Passion in the Early Stages of Creative Writing Pedagogy” which I presented at the 2013 KPA conference