On Teresa Leo

In commenting about her own work, Teresa Leo cites Louise Gluck's line, "All my life I have worshipped the wrong gods," and goes on to say that her poems explore a similar revelation: what happens when one is drawn, for whatever reason, to the wrong partner. They chronicle the relationships that move from agency and desire to hesitation and loss. To which I would add: they do this with great linguistic verve. Teresa is a phrase-maker, and she drives her poems down the page with terrific energy and surprise.

—Stephen Dunn, author of twelve books of poems, most recently Local Visitations. Different Hours won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001.