Touring by Marjie Giffin

Propelled by their music and the urgency of their vision, the poignant poems in Touring traverse America’s landscape of privilege—a territory marked by gulfs between the haves and have nots.

While the traveler in these poems laments the disparities she sees on her journeys, for instance, the homeless camped on Harvard Square where “thinkers plod on and on, sidestepping the bodies,” she also examines issues of privilege within the confines of her own car and in the rearview mirror of the past. This is a wonderful first collection, full of empathy and insight.

–Shari Wagner, former Indiana Poet Laureate, author of The Farm Wife’s Almanac

Marjie Giffin’s first collection Touring is a delightful ride. The settings in these poems are so vivid and deftly presented that whether the speaker of the poem is staring at the sea from within a parked car, stargazing while lying on a cement porch, or playing cards with family at the dining room table, the reader feels they are right beside her, experiencing these things for themselves. A rich experience consisting of memory and emotion, this is a tour you’ll want to take again and again.

–Kyle D. Craig, author of Invisible Tea