The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded Poems [Paperback]

Haunted by thevoices of those committed to the notorious Virginia State Colony, epicenter ofthe American eugenics movement in the first half of the twentieth century, thisevocative debut marks the emergence of a poet of exceptional poise andcompassion, who grew up in the shadow of the Colony itself.Molly McCully Browns first book of poems,Browns humbling and heartbreaking poems restore dignity to lives sacrificed in the name of perfection....[a] fierce and lyric debut...Brown rounds what others compress as she lends depth, historical and personal, to the complex and suppressed identities that physical distress creates. The desire for something to reach out and save, to touch or not be touched by God or by human hands, carries an eerie undercurrent through the text.[Molly McCully Brown] makes us feel empathy and respect for those who were deemed unfit for society. Brown not only delves into a shameful chapter of American history; she also finds a way to remind us of the complexity of the human mind.?