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Judas Goat: Poems
Gabrielle Bates’s electric debut collection Judas Goat plumbs the depths of intimate relationships. The book’s eponymous animal is used to lead sheep to slaughter while its own life is spared, and its harrowing existence echoes through this spellbinding collection of forty poems, which wrestle with betrayal and forced obedience, violence and young womanhood, and the “forbidden felt language” of sexual and sacred love. These poems conjure encounters with figures from scriptures, domesticated animals eyeing the wild, and mothering as a shapeshifting, spectral force; they question what it means to love another person and how to exorcise childhood fears. All the while, the Deep South haunts, and no matter how far away the speaker moves, the South always draws her back home.
In confession, in illumination, Bates establishes herself as an unflinching witness to the risks that desire necessitates, as Judas Goat holds readers close and whispers its unforgettable lines.
In confession, in illumination, Bates establishes herself as an unflinching witness to the risks that desire necessitates, as Judas Goat holds readers close and whispers its unforgettable lines.
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 24, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews
March 31, 2023
How can something so tender be so violent at the same time? Breathtaking collection.
January 27, 2024
some beauties in here!!!! largely forgettable tho
January 20, 2023
I have been looking forward to writing this review since I first encountered Gabrielle Bates’ poem “The Dog” in 2019. Originally published in The Offing, “The Dog,” all at once a meditation on the role of the witness as well as a presumed elegy for a dog whose leash gets trapped in a train door, is a masterclass in observation, and a poem that takes me out at the knees every time I read it. One can see Bates’ talents on full display as her speaker, confronted with this tragic encounter between the speaker’s spouse and the titular dog, “stared at the back of his head / split between compassion and fury.”
Since then, I’ve kept an eye out for Bates’ work, encountering her poetics with delight in various journals and magazines, and when she announced her debut collection would be forthcoming, I jumped at the chance to read it. And oh boy: I was not disappointed. Rooted in the violences of womanhood, the devotion of love, and the animal instinct, Bates has created a wonder. Judas Goat, named after the eponymous animal trained to lead sheep to their deaths, is a beautiful, sprawling collection which invokes poets like Brigit Pegeen Kelly and the landscape of the Deep South, from afar and from up close. It’s a book that constantly surprises with its assertion, and its strangeness at times, the “cold blood on the cock of God,” is a strangeness that is rooted in that very same observational power and surreality that drew me to Bates’ work in the first place. It is no less powerful in collection form; on the contrary, it's enhanced.
Brimming with quiet lyricism, gorgeous imagery, and an unflinching gaze, Bates has cemented herself as a poet to watch, but more than that, a poet to perpetually learn from and emulate. I know these poems will be keeping me company for years to come, the collection one I will return to again and again for its kaleidoscopic range and brilliant luster.
Thanks to NetGalley and Tin House for the ARC!
Since then, I’ve kept an eye out for Bates’ work, encountering her poetics with delight in various journals and magazines, and when she announced her debut collection would be forthcoming, I jumped at the chance to read it. And oh boy: I was not disappointed. Rooted in the violences of womanhood, the devotion of love, and the animal instinct, Bates has created a wonder. Judas Goat, named after the eponymous animal trained to lead sheep to their deaths, is a beautiful, sprawling collection which invokes poets like Brigit Pegeen Kelly and the landscape of the Deep South, from afar and from up close. It’s a book that constantly surprises with its assertion, and its strangeness at times, the “cold blood on the cock of God,” is a strangeness that is rooted in that very same observational power and surreality that drew me to Bates’ work in the first place. It is no less powerful in collection form; on the contrary, it's enhanced.
Brimming with quiet lyricism, gorgeous imagery, and an unflinching gaze, Bates has cemented herself as a poet to watch, but more than that, a poet to perpetually learn from and emulate. I know these poems will be keeping me company for years to come, the collection one I will return to again and again for its kaleidoscopic range and brilliant luster.
Thanks to NetGalley and Tin House for the ARC!
June 11, 2024
June 2024: It transfixes me still. I began rereading this remarkable collection before meeting Gabrielle in Paris. Truly, she is one of my favorite contemporary poets—a kindred spirit, a genius, a gem of a person. I can't wait to see what she publishes next. <3
March 2023: "Round white mushrooms emerge in clusters overnight,
soil scattered across their brows
like Catholics bearing ash. It’s taken me
almost a decade to admit it: I miss. I’ve missed
feeding all my thoughts through that revolving blade
so thin it could only be felt.
I’ve missed that arrowing of the—I
almost said soul—But it was the mind,
mostly, wasn’t it, that winnowed?
I knew God listened. And I knew where to aim.
All the time, every second. I lacked
but with aim" (Sabbath).
Judas Goat is absolutely stunning, visceral, and unflinching. It is woven to be undone. It withholds no punches.
After weeks of anticipation, I finally ordered this collection all the way from the US because I couldn't find it anywhere here in the UK. Dear reader, it was worth it. I have been following Gabrielle on Twitter for many moons, and I find her work to be deeply inspiring in its balance of beauty and utility. Every line is sharpened to its intended end. Her verse subverts and surprises (like the boys under the bleachers, RIOTS, PATRIOTS) yet these twists feel inevitable, unearthed from the subconscious. This collection feels like a masterclass in poetry, and I can't help but relate to her revelations on womanhood, love, and growing up in the South. This is a text I'll be returning to again and again to wrestle with. Best of all, it makes me turn to my own life. It makes me desire to write.
March 2023: "Round white mushrooms emerge in clusters overnight,
soil scattered across their brows
like Catholics bearing ash. It’s taken me
almost a decade to admit it: I miss. I’ve missed
feeding all my thoughts through that revolving blade
so thin it could only be felt.
I’ve missed that arrowing of the—I
almost said soul—But it was the mind,
mostly, wasn’t it, that winnowed?
I knew God listened. And I knew where to aim.
All the time, every second. I lacked
but with aim" (Sabbath).
Judas Goat is absolutely stunning, visceral, and unflinching. It is woven to be undone. It withholds no punches.
After weeks of anticipation, I finally ordered this collection all the way from the US because I couldn't find it anywhere here in the UK. Dear reader, it was worth it. I have been following Gabrielle on Twitter for many moons, and I find her work to be deeply inspiring in its balance of beauty and utility. Every line is sharpened to its intended end. Her verse subverts and surprises (like the boys under the bleachers, RIOTS, PATRIOTS) yet these twists feel inevitable, unearthed from the subconscious. This collection feels like a masterclass in poetry, and I can't help but relate to her revelations on womanhood, love, and growing up in the South. This is a text I'll be returning to again and again to wrestle with. Best of all, it makes me turn to my own life. It makes me desire to write.
August 3, 2024
Read so many of these twice. "The Dog," "Intro to Theater," and (my fave) "In the Dream Where I am a Widow" unforgettable for their twists, mainly reactive emotions that endear or startle the reader. Especially love Bates' modernist mode. From "Dear Gretel": "You've been gone years / Concrete trucks spin like candy-makers / claiming the neighborhood."
May 22, 2024
Hay unos poemas que me parecen increíbles, luego hay otros que no. Creo que la voz lírica de los poemas es una muy cercana, sobre todo desde la feminidad, y tiene imágenes muy conectadas a lo rural que me llaman muchísimo la atención. Hay un clima de nostalgia, perdida, violencia y temor que leí en el conjunto. Y también admito que me remitió un poco a mi lectura de Ocean Vuong.
December 4, 2023
swings at your head right out the gate
January 4, 2024
“Oh yes they built my mother crudely on the patch of flattened grass. They told me half my blood was hers. They told me they’d help me wring it out. Our matter matched. That mama screeched. I muttered, Get it out-get it out-in my sleep. They told me i did this. Gave me a knife and said, Defend yourself.”
are you fucking serious? are you insane?
are you fucking serious? are you insane?
February 5, 2023
Thank you Tin House for the copy in exchange for honest review
This collection of poems is so exquisite. It's not only because of the beauty of the language but also because they all tell a story with a deeply personal voice that only great poets can achieve. That voice is subtle and feminine but at the same time disruptive. In these poems , the reader can sense a subtle violence, like troubled waters beneath a calm river. All the perturbing images are strangely familiar and that familiarity makes them even more sinister. But the voice that denounces is unperturbed. It's not a screaming voice but a mumble. I find these contrasts fascinating. The poem that opens the book and acts as a pre epigraph, The Dog, is just a taster of what is to come in the rest of the book, alerts you to what to expect from then on. And the come Sabbath, The Mentor, In the Dream In Which I Am a Widow, Intro to Theatre and that poignant elegy in advance, and one of my favorites Salmon. Each and every piece is a delicate poke. The general effect is a corpus of poems charged with powerful imagery that will captivate you and leave you asking for more.
This collection of poems is so exquisite. It's not only because of the beauty of the language but also because they all tell a story with a deeply personal voice that only great poets can achieve. That voice is subtle and feminine but at the same time disruptive. In these poems , the reader can sense a subtle violence, like troubled waters beneath a calm river. All the perturbing images are strangely familiar and that familiarity makes them even more sinister. But the voice that denounces is unperturbed. It's not a screaming voice but a mumble. I find these contrasts fascinating. The poem that opens the book and acts as a pre epigraph, The Dog, is just a taster of what is to come in the rest of the book, alerts you to what to expect from then on. And the come Sabbath, The Mentor, In the Dream In Which I Am a Widow, Intro to Theatre and that poignant elegy in advance, and one of my favorites Salmon. Each and every piece is a delicate poke. The general effect is a corpus of poems charged with powerful imagery that will captivate you and leave you asking for more.
April 30, 2023
Wow wow wow. What a phenomenon of a collection. Changed by this.
August 3, 2023
My favorites were "The Dog", "The Bridge", "Dear Birmingham", and "Salmon" the rest were all good but too intelligent for me I fear
January 27, 2025
Great start. The first poems were so impactful, but the poems dwindled towards the middle and end of the book. While string writing was sprinkled throughout, I was left wanting more of the first poems.
December 22, 2023
This book contains many reminiscences of Alabama rural living, of family, and of lovers and their struggles. Bates says, "There are so many narratives, and each one obscures meaning." The constant looking back and regretting seem to result sometimes in exhaustion: "There is more to say, but my speaking is done with me."
Occasionally a poetic gestures falls short, in my opinion. At least one poem ("Illusion") goes on too long. But the language is so rich in so many places (("the way angel and human, all night by water, wrestle the space between sibling and lover"), and so honest-sounding, that the book won a five-star rating from me.
Occasionally a poetic gestures falls short, in my opinion. At least one poem ("Illusion") goes on too long. But the language is so rich in so many places (("the way angel and human, all night by water, wrestle the space between sibling and lover"), and so honest-sounding, that the book won a five-star rating from me.
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September 25, 2023“What I have want most
is many lives. One for each longing,
round and separate.”
This one’s got some real ache to it. The titular poem is one I can’t stop thinking about.
is many lives. One for each longing,
round and separate.”
This one’s got some real ache to it. The titular poem is one I can’t stop thinking about.
February 5, 2023
the way I gasped when I got to "In the Dream in Which I Am a Widow" a poem I loved & lost in a New Yorker a few years ago ; Tin House never misses, we are lucky to live in a world of poets.
"Growing up, I associated guilt
with wanting anything"
"Growing up, I associated guilt
with wanting anything"
March 29, 2023
An absolutely stunning collection. These poems are out for blood & I gave it, willingly.
Read
October 6, 2023“If I describe something, anything, long enough, / language will lead me back to wanting it.”
July 9, 2023
what the frick
May 28, 2024
Read for Poetry with Pat, with a guest reading of Aiming with Amy. Judas Goat 🐐 is perfect for when you think to yourself, “Well, I kinda feel like reading a text-message-conversprayer between the Virgin Mary and herself or maybe to catchup with the above average kids in Lake Woebegone. The poems are word explosions that make vivid images in the moment which gently fade into that ahhh feeling one has after watching the Fourth of July fireworks. Some favorites were…
The Amy Trilogy…
Dear Birmingham
Conversation with Mary
Sabbath
As well as…
Strawberries 🍓
The Dog 🐶
Effigy
The Greatest Show on Earth
Saint of Ongoingness
Ice /
In the Dream in which I Am a Widow
Garden
The Amy Trilogy…
Dear Birmingham
Conversation with Mary
Sabbath
As well as…
Strawberries 🍓
The Dog 🐶
Effigy
The Greatest Show on Earth
Saint of Ongoingness
Ice /
In the Dream in which I Am a Widow
Garden
May 28, 2024
In this remarkable debut collection, the poet creates astonishing images that are as poignant as they are disturbing, elusive as they are universal in their depiction of human conditions. Grass, on neither side, seems green—or perhaps there at all.
“We, of our ends, are perhaps all this oblivious: one goat
trained to live with the sheep, neck-bell jingling
in and out of the slaughterhouse.”
—from “Judas Goat,” p. 64
Favorite Poems:
“Impermanent”
“Effigy”
“Strawberries”
“Conversation with Mary”
“Sabbath”
“The Mentor”
“‘Person’ Comes from ‘Mask’”
“In the Dream in Which I Am a Widow”
“Dance Party at the Public Glasshouse”
“Judas Goat”
“The Lucky Ones”
“Rosification”
“Salmon”
“We, of our ends, are perhaps all this oblivious: one goat
trained to live with the sheep, neck-bell jingling
in and out of the slaughterhouse.”
—from “Judas Goat,” p. 64
Favorite Poems:
“Impermanent”
“Effigy”
“Strawberries”
“Conversation with Mary”
“Sabbath”
“The Mentor”
“‘Person’ Comes from ‘Mask’”
“In the Dream in Which I Am a Widow”
“Dance Party at the Public Glasshouse”
“Judas Goat”
“The Lucky Ones”
“Rosification”
“Salmon”
June 6, 2023
very southern gothic, the cohesion is driven by catholic imagery, the theme of nostalgia is almost medical in its precision (“conversation with mary”; “effigy”; “strawberries”), the ambiguous age between girl and woman is defined by its violence (“time lapse”), a variety of forms on display throughout the collection, a voice that makes herself known in every poem, animalistic (not only that animals are anthropomorphized but a reminder that we are equal in our despairs, best encapsulated in “the dog”; “how judas died”), cool cover!
April 26, 2023
trying to get more into poetry- which means that a lot of these poems have gone over my head since i am so new to the genre- but i felt these strongly. her opening poem was striking and brutal and maybe my favorite one.
January 7, 2024
"language was a rewarded vice, and the Good Book best of all to be caught eyeing, though dangerous in its own ways with it's impossible orders like 'Walk as a child of light.' To want light. I tried. I did. My trying has cursed me more than anything."
January 27, 2024
Observant, smart, and descriptive, this is the type of contemporary poetry I love. I was reading and re-reading on the line-level, as well as whole poems. Really enjoyed the themes of nature, family, violence, loss, and the touch of religious imagery.
July 29, 2024
I LOVED the first poem about the husband and the subway incident. It is a perfect and startling piece of work. Unfortunately the rest fell off in resonance for me after that initial throat punch. But, I did like the weird headspace this collection put me in. It's very much worth checking out!
February 27, 2025
DNF at 66% . this is very good and i will get back to it someday but i am a Prose Enthusiast and in epochs like these (a level nightmare) when the time to read is scarce , i want to return to a Story !
February 28, 2023
Genuinely stunning, I was sold from the first poem. Interrogates animal-ness in ways I only dream of!!
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March 6, 2023Real good
April 28, 2023
Beautiful poems that are so visual and emotional. Thank you Safia for sharing this book via Goodreads!
Read
December 19, 2023the ethel cain girlies are gonna love this one
Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews