“The first part of Erica Funkhouser's SURE SHOT comprises 26 lyric poems of surpassing tenderness… The inventiveness and humor of these poems are rare in contemporary poetry. The second part of SURE SHOT consists of poetic monologues that reconsider America through the eyes of three nineteenth-century American women--Sacajawea, Louisa May Alcott, and Annie Oakley. These dramatic poems explore both the inner worlds of these three extraordinary women and their responses to the central events of the century in which they lived.”  

Goodreads

“Erica Funkhouser has written an important book and is on her way to being an important poet.”  

Harvard Review

“At the center of Funkhouser’s poetry…lies a love of clarity and sanity…I love the music and the language of her poems.  She is sure-footed, a true singer.”  

Gerald Stern

“A remarkable accomplishment.  I read it with much pleasure and admiration and gratitude for its unusual mixture of historical fact and fancy, and lyric sweetness.”  

Joyce Carol Oates

“Erica Funkhouser’s poems are rich in ‘the working knowledge of the emphemeral.’ Their attention is so fierce and vivid it can almost see time happen.”

William Matthews

From the book...