“Mysterious and enticing, Murder (A Violet) is a brilliant narrative. This serial poem provides room for the reader to enter and participate in the game played by its textual agents—the assassin, the abbess, the janissaries, the vines, the trees. Flashes of action, some of them quite violent and noir alternate with evocative, lyrical passages reminiscent of Japanese landscape scrolls, and speeches concerning questions of guilt and redemption—all of this composed with a light touch and an ear sensitive to the weights and balances of words.”—Anselm Hollo, National Poetry Series judge

Raymond McDaniel grew up in Florida and now lives in Ann Arbor where he writes for the Constant Critic, teaches at the University of Michigan and hosts the reading series at Shaman Drum Bookshop.