Forthcoming September 2024 from Stephen F. Austin State University Press. Preorder from Texas A&M University Press or your favorite independent bookseller.



Bensel’s work cuts to the marrow of what it means to be human, to be betrayed by the body and by those we love.  – Emma Bolden, author of The Tiger and the Cage

Bensel's Spoil is somehow both stark and lush, shifting from plain directness in one poem to entangling lyricism in another. That Bensel succeeds in both modes is a testament to her particularity and to her skill--qualities as rare as they are necessary. – Shane McCrae, author of The Gilded Auction Block

These are earthy, pulsing, pungent poems, wise beyond their years, each like a nook in a curiosity cabinet. Upon peering through the looking glass of Bensel’s apt eye, I am altered. – Jenny Molberg, author of Refusal