This was a fun book--there were a handful of poems I could see myself teaching and some real springing moments of situational poems, but I don't know that I feel compelled to own a copy--a one or two time read.

Judas Goat, God! It exposes you to meanings and meanings, to betrayal, obey but neglected, but then it comes at you again for betrayal. How the horn that felt like a thorn you keep making has already been existed long before you knew. The image that this poetry collection has created a painful bottle of suffering, sufficient offering to loss, loneliness while fully being forgiving. 

I love the poem entries and sometimes be at war with the pieces of this book, I feel like Gabrielle could also write in terms of a fiction novel and memoir perhaps. But I recently listened to the Between the Covers podcast about the chance of her writing a novel but she tries to move away from it but I am hoping she could write one (hopefully, a chance or soon). Her writing is so graceful, and could crystallize awakening. 

Judas Goat is not a one chance read but in every reread will glisten an in depth. To most, poetry is not a linear concept but its a continuous flow of inmate process

Thanks to NetGalley and Tin House for an ARC of this incredible debut collection!

I completed my read a few weeks ago, but really wanted to sit with these poems again to think about how I could fully flesh out my thoughts about this poetry collection. Within these poems, Gabrielle knows how to tell such a spectrum of experiences and emotions. I had such an intimate experience reading Gabrielle's poems. "The Dog" will stick with me forever. What a great opener to the book and to what was to be read in the rest of the poetry collection. Sometimes, I had to step away and return to the book the next day so I had time to absorb what I had read. I can't say enough how spectacular it was to read this collection. I know I'll be re-reading this book to dig deeper into the poems. I can't wait for Gabrielle's next collection!

I have been looking forward to writing this review since I first encountered Gabrielle Bates’ poem “The Dog” in 2019. Originally published in The Offing, “The Dog,” all at once a meditation on the role of the witness as well as a presumed elegy for a dog whose leash gets trapped in a train door, is a masterclass in observation, and a poem that takes me out at the knees every time I read it. One can see Bates’ talents on full display as her speaker, confronted with this tragic encounter between the speaker’s spouse and the titular dog, “stared at the back of his head / split between compassion and fury.”

Since then, I’ve kept an eye out for Bates’ work, encountering her poetics with delight in various journals and magazines, and when she announced her debut collection would be forthcoming, I jumped at the chance to read it. And oh boy: I was not disappointed. Rooted in the violences of womanhood, the devotion of love, and the animal instinct, Bates has created a wonder. Judas Goat, named after the eponymous animal trained to lead sheep to their deaths, is a beautiful, sprawling collection which invokes poets like Brigit Pegeen Kelly and the landscape of the Deep South, from afar and from up close. It’s a book that constantly surprises with its assertion, and its strangeness at times, the “cold blood on the cock of God,” is a strangeness that is rooted in that very same observational power and surreality that drew me to Bates’ work in the first place. It is no less powerful in collection form; on the contrary, it's enhanced.

Brimming with quiet lyricism, gorgeous imagery, and an unflinching gaze, Bates has cemented herself as a poet to watch, but more than that, a poet to perpetually learn from and emulate. I know these poems will be keeping me company for years to come, the collection one I will return to again and again for its kaleidoscopic range and brilliant luster.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tin House for the ARC!

I am such a fan of Gabrielle Bates and this collection did not disappoint. It confronts painful experiences and emotions head-on with such staggeringly beautiful language that a person can't help but read on. This is an incredibly impressive debut. I think Bates is sure to pick up a wealth of new engagement and fans from Judas Goat. I adored it.

Gabrielle Bates uses language, experience, and imagery beautifully, including enjambment and emphasis on word choices. Judas Goat is a literary and lovely collection of verse, and evidence of a strong and talented poetic voice.

I learned a lot as a writer from reading this book. The form of these poems are polished as marble and the language is tight and economical. I can tell the writer took a lot of time to make everything in the poems have a purpose. I really enjoyed reading the “uglier” parts of the poems like a dog getting its leash cut off by a subway door. This shined through a lot of the book that felt more “Capitol P” poetry to me which isn’t really my thing. My favorite poem in the collection is “And Even After All That, No Epiphany”.

A really lovely collection of poems. I enjoyed the poems' discussion of being a young girl, growing into your sexuality, being in a small town, southern life, etc.