Temper

"Here we have metamorphosis, resonance, transfromation, the alchemy of art. Bachmann is able by a few simple direct gestures . . . to connect her personal grief and tragedy to the whole tradition of English (and Western) verse and to the poetic impulse itself to make beauty out of sorrow."
--Poetry

"A thorough and vivid emotional narrative, taking the reader to an unsettling depth of personal tragedy at breakneck speed."
--Oxford American

"An often haunting image of time juttering forward and back ceaselessly, lives never completely explained or tragedy never finally understood."
--Heavy Bear

"Nothing short of a stunning debut. Rarely have I felt so compelled by a collection, so utterly incapable of turning away. "
--Poet Lore

"Bachmann is able--by a few simple, direct gestures toward pastoral elegy, invoking nymphs and shepherds by rejecting them--to connect her personal grief and tragedy to the whole tradition of English (and Western) verse and to the poetic impulse itself to make beauty out of sorrow."
--Poetry

"In her lush economies, psychic darkness, and imperative forthrightness, Bachmann is clearly an heir of Louise Glück and there's a trace of Whitman here, too . . . The grief in 'Temper' is raw, relentless, and unadorned; in the crucible of Bachmann's sensibility, this sorry becomes gracious force."
--On the Seawall