Sarah Vap grew up in Missoula, Montana. She attended Brown University, where she studied English and American Literature. She received her MFA from Arizona State University, and is completing her PhD at the University of Southern California.
Vap is the author of four collections of poetry. Her first book, Dummy Fire, was selected by Forrest Gander to receive the Saturnalia Poetry Prize. Her second, American Spikenard, was selected by Ira Sadoff to receive the Iowa Poetry Prize. Her third book, Faulkner’s Rosary, was released by Saturnalia Books in 2010. Her fourth book, Arco Iris, was just released in November, 2012, and was named a Library Journal Best Book of 2012. Her book End of the Sentimental Journey is forthcoming from Noemi Press in 2013. She is a 2013 recipient of an NEA Fellowship for Poetry.
Last week you formed the chambers of your own heart; this week
the lobes of your brain. I wake up thinking overcelebrate.
I wake with the phrase, as I am wont.
...
When, beyond the patience of night's long black grass,
they're locked into that shape
of a small white chastity—it's hardly this simple—
...
The earliest light we know
is out there on the hill this evening, calling to us—
...
Cowboy song with no words
to the cows—the one inspired
by your dream of tying a steak
...
—some trotting and tripping frail guests,
others elegant.
All of them moved through twilight's shell
with stones
...