“Like Orpheus and his songs, lyric essays try something daring. They rely more on intuition than exposition. They often use image more than narration. They question more than answer,” writes editor Randon Billings Noble in the introduction to this anthology of lyric essays. Featuring the work of writers such as Casandra López, Dinty W. Moore, Diane Seuss, Elissa Washuta, and Lidia Yuknavitch, this collection includes examples of four forms—flash essays, segmented essays, braided essays, and hermit crab essays—and concludes with a section of craft essays from six different authors offering their take on the art of writing lyric essays. Given the slippery nature of defining the form, each contributor supplements their work with a short meditation on the genre-bending form, making this book as much of a reference book as a thrilling read. “Lyric essays require a kind of passion, a commitment to weirdness in the face of convention, a willingness to risk confusion, a comfort with outsider status,” writes Noble.
