Publication Date: March 15, 2026
Paperback, 42 pages
ISBN: 978-1-966677-37-6
Praise for Lance Le Grys & Stray Hunter’s Bullet
Lance Le Grys’s Stray Hunter’s Bullet challenges not just the meaning of the narrative but, in Beckett’s tradition, the act of storytelling itself where what is of most interest to the speaker is “what never happened.” Fragmented, ironic, and irreverent at times, LeGrys’s poems mix equal doses of tragedy and comedy because at the heart of this work are the random forces beyond the individual’s control and the story that’s doomed from the beginning: “I have tried to tell / the story of Gabriel / but there is no story / just a death.” Gabriel, aptly named for the messenger angel, is blessed with musical talents that come from the realm of mystery (“whoever heard him loved it / but none ever knew what it was / they thought it was him”), but his gift is misunderstood and incongruous with how he is being perceived by others, including the speaker (“Gabriel looked like the yard man / which he was”). The story of Gabriel is marked by failures, hesitations, and repetitions, and as the poet re-imagines the anti-heroic existence of the artist, he also poses deep philosophical questions about the nature of art, life, and above all, love itself (“yes three of us did / loved him / for no reason / for if there is a reason / there is no love / but love for the reason”). Indeed, those who love Gabriel must also deal with the cruelty of fate in which they are all entangled, though it all happens amid the mystery of art and the abundance and wildness of life.
—Lucyna Prostko, author of Infinite Beginnings
About the Author
Lance Le Grys was born in 1970 in Cambridge, New York. He received his B.A. in Classics from Middlebury College in 1992 and has made his living first as a Latin teacher and then as a librarian. He currently lives in Castleton, Vermont. He is the author of the poetry collections Mortal Variations (In Case of Emergency Press, forthcoming) and Views from an Outbuilding (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, 2019), and the chapbook Pilate Suite (Bottlecap Press, 2024). A selection of his songwriting indiscretions can be heard at legrys.bandcamp.com.
Publication Date: March 15, 2026
Paperback, 42 pages
ISBN: 978-1-966677-37-6
Praise for Lance Le Grys & Stray Hunter’s Bullet
Lance Le Grys’s Stray Hunter’s Bullet challenges not just the meaning of the narrative but, in Beckett’s tradition, the act of storytelling itself where what is of most interest to the speaker is “what never happened.” Fragmented, ironic, and irreverent at times, LeGrys’s poems mix equal doses of tragedy and comedy because at the heart of this work are the random forces beyond the individual’s control and the story that’s doomed from the beginning: “I have tried to tell / the story of Gabriel / but there is no story / just a death.” Gabriel, aptly named for the messenger angel, is blessed with musical talents that come from the realm of mystery (“whoever heard him loved it / but none ever knew what it was / they thought it was him”), but his gift is misunderstood and incongruous with how he is being perceived by others, including the speaker (“Gabriel looked like the yard man / which he was”). The story of Gabriel is marked by failures, hesitations, and repetitions, and as the poet re-imagines the anti-heroic existence of the artist, he also poses deep philosophical questions about the nature of art, life, and above all, love itself (“yes three of us did / loved him / for no reason / for if there is a reason / there is no love / but love for the reason”). Indeed, those who love Gabriel must also deal with the cruelty of fate in which they are all entangled, though it all happens amid the mystery of art and the abundance and wildness of life.
—Lucyna Prostko, author of Infinite Beginnings
About the Author
Lance Le Grys was born in 1970 in Cambridge, New York. He received his B.A. in Classics from Middlebury College in 1992 and has made his living first as a Latin teacher and then as a librarian. He currently lives in Castleton, Vermont. He is the author of the poetry collections Mortal Variations (In Case of Emergency Press, forthcoming) and Views from an Outbuilding (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, 2019), and the chapbook Pilate Suite (Bottlecap Press, 2024). A selection of his songwriting indiscretions can be heard at legrys.bandcamp.com.
