Blood Too Bright

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,

I have forgotten*

One hundred years ago, Bohemian author and editor of the radical Masses magazine, Floyd Dell, began a passionate affair with a newcomer to Greenwich Village - the yet to be discovered "girl poet," Edna St. Vincent Millay. In the years that followed, both Dell and Millay became symbols of early twentieth century feminism, rebellion, and literary freedom.

A century later, while poring over her grandfather Floyd's papers at Chicago's Newberry Library, Jerri Dell discovered hundreds of handwritten letters and an unpublished memoir about his love affair with Millay. Finding him as outlandish, entertaining, and insightful as he was when she knew him fifty years before, she chose to bring him and his poet lover back to life within the pages of this book.

My candle burns at both ends

It will not last the night*

Admirers of Edna Millay, as well as Bohemian Village enthusiasts and readers interested in writers who famously influenced social norms, are sure to enjoy this eye-witness account of a fascinating woman and exceptional poet.

*Excerpts from Sonnet XLIII and First Fig by Edna St. Vincent Millay