Shout-out to this wonderful first book of poems by Molly McCully Brown I picked up recently at the library. The collection title describes a real place in Madison Heights, Virginia (near where I grew up). The history of the colony is disturbing and a reminder of atrocities buried (it's now the Central Virginia Training Center) in corners of America. Patients in this hospital were sterilized, without consent and many without their knowledge, if they were considered defective, morally or mentally ill.
I really admired Brown's poems: their sensitivity and quiet power and the history she brings to light.
NYT Review by Dwight Garner
Her selected writing can be found here.
Where to find book.
