"Thoroughbred racing has never gotten over Ruffian. Lyn Lifshin 
came out of nowhere to become a Ruffian fan, a zealot for 
everything Ruffian stood for and all that she touched. Her poems 
will carry you away to a field of Kentucky foals, to the racetrack 
where each new horse could be the one, to the bone-numbing 
feeling of a runaway winner and to the despair of watching 
brilliance flame out. Ruffian would have liked Lifshin."—Sean 
Clancy, author of Saratoga Days

"Eros and Equus perfectly combine in these sleek, sensual poems. 
From brilliant filly to tragic fatality, Lifshin keeps pace with this 
dark darling of the track, everybody's favorite—Ruffian."—Laura 
Chester

"These poems do the memory and legacy of Ruffian The Beauty 
justice at last. Poetry is the only medium to evoke the life and 
tragic death of this extraordinary horse, and Lyn Lifshin proves 
more than up to the task. They mirror the evolution of Ruffian's 
athletic prowess and striking black beauty with deft attentiveness 
and poignant detail. They do not merely honor the memory of 
Ruffian, but invoke the dynamic ghost of her radiant presence . . ."
—Joe La Rosa

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LYN LIFSHIN, whose Before It's Light won the Paterson Poetry 
Award, has published more than 100 books of poetry, and her work 
has appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies. Her new 
chapbook, Barbie Poems, is out.