The Hoax Poems - by Leslie Grace McMurtry

The macabre, the unsettling, the uncertain, the unforgettable: stories and legends supplant the sensible and the predictable of everyday life. Whatever else we may think of these instances, they tingle our fears and our imaginations long after we look away—if we can. These are the subjects of Leslie Grace McMurtry’s evocative debut collection, The Hoax Poems, where what we perceive takes precedence over what’s real. 

The Casa Urraca Press exclusive hardcover edition comes with a case laminate cover and matte laminate dust jacket. The bookstore edition is perfect bound with a matte laminate paperback cover. Both editions are run on 50# cream paper, printed and bound in the United States.

Leslie Grace McMurtry’s poetry has appeared in several journals and anthologies. Her audio dramas have aired on KUNM in Albuquerque, at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea, and at the Orpheus & Bacchus Festival in Bordeaux, and in 2017 she was Artist in Residence at Badlands National Park. She makes podcasts for Lesser of 2 Weevils and teaches at the University of Salford.

“Truth be told: this one will chill you to the bone. These verses give us an ever-present-past; a haunted cabinet of curiosities. But don’t be scared. The Hoax Poems aren’t out to swindle you. McMurtry’s made sure you’re in on the joke… and it’s no laughing matter.”

– Liz Wride, playwright (No. 5 Cwmdonkin Drive) & short story writer

“With a keen eye for the absurd, uncanny, and unnerving marginalia of history, McMurtry plunges with gusto into the hidden stories and voices of hoaxes, freaks, and other mythic curiosities… to unearth new understandings of what makes
us human.”

– Scott Thurston, author of Phrases towards a Kinepoetics

“McMurtry’s collection is one of curiosity and empathy… The hoaxes themselves are told with a wink to the reader, and a generous humour and warm wit underpin the collection.”

– Alan Kellermann, author of You, Me and the Birds