Sacrificial Steel

Cate McGowan's full-length poetry collection Sacrificial Steel uses art, history, and complex, musical poetic lines and forms to explore the biggest question we have as humans: what does it all mean? McGowan utilizes form, precision, braiding, and sound to capture the essence of contemporary lyric poetry. This collection is both tightly structured and expansive, covering subjects both personal (like grief and marriage) and political (American politics and ecological concerns). It also contains many ekphrastic poems. McGowan's voice is singular in the way it blends research and the vernacular. These poems are full of feminist wisdom and humor but ultimately explore the nature of existence in a declining world. This book captures place well, with a particular focus on the South and Florida. In this collection, nature and the animal world are juxtaposed with human endeavors and frailty. Sacrificial Steel, winner of Driftwood Press's Editors' Pick Prize, is about what humanity builds and what it destroys. It is for fans of lyric poetry, art, and music, and for anyone trying to find meaning in the chaos of history.