I.S. Jones, one of the judges for the just concluded Nigerian NewsDirect Poetry Chapbook Award and a great patron of PoetryColumn-NND project has her debut poetry collection published and available for purchase here.
Chosen by the guest Judge, Nicole Sealey, Bloodmercy won the 2025 APR/Honickman First Book Prize by The American Poetry Review and is distributed by Copper Canyon Press through Consortium.
I.S. Jones’ debut collection, Bloodmercy has been a much anticipated book of poetry, both internationally and locally. When asked for a peek into the book, Itiola responded: “Bloodmercy reimagines Cain and Abel as they navigate the dense geography of girlhood into young womanhood to explore violence, love, sex, faith, and man’s dominion over the earth. Blurring the space between the Old Testament and the modern world, the girls gaze heavenward with their enduring questions to God.”
The book has enjoyed praises from a lot of renowned poets and authors. Nicole Sealey, author of The Ferguson Report: An Erasure and Ordinary Beast in her praise for Blood Mercy said, “I.S. Jones has certainly created, crafted, and formed something breathtaking with Bloodmercy. I.S. Jones takes on the idea of grace, at whose feet we kneel and at whose side we wish to heel, and does so with lyric intensity and precision. Since I am feeling particularly blasphemous, I reckon that somewhere a religious text is missing a psalm. Find it here in Blood-mercy.”
Gabrielle Bates, author of Judas Goat testified of the collection’s “depth”, saying, “I feel like I’ve been waiting for this book my whole life. Carnal, star-cling, absolutely extraordinary, Bloodmercy awakens the soul to newly terrifying and tender depths. Here is a collection that evidences a rare genius—a nearly miraculous convergence of instinct, vision, and skill. Utterly electrifying, intimate and sweeping, Bloodmercy will live on my shelf among the books of my most sacred personal canon. Reading these poems, I marvel, I flinch, I hold my breath. I.S. Jones has given us a book for the ages.”
JulIan Randall, author of Refuse praised the collection for its “scale of imagination”. In their words, “Marking the stunning debut of a bold voice in poetry, I.S.Jones’ BloodMercy sings like a choir and ages like a wine. This re-telling of Cain and Abel as a pair of sisters, braiding the story of the first mercy and the first murder under the watchful eye of a father whose anger is as terrible and unpredictable as any god. Lush, dynamic and endlessly inventive, Bloodmercy is a biblical debut; not merely for its themes, but the scale of its imagination.”
With Bloodmercy, I.S. Jones, not only cements her place as one of the most compelling new voices in contemporary poetry, but also expands the landscape of biblical myths, girlhood and young womanhood in ways that feel both timeless and urgent. As it continues to reach readers internationally, Bloodmercy promises to leave a lasting mark on both Nigerian and global poetry. More than a biblical debut, Bloodmercy is a work to be read, revisit and cherish for years to come.
I.S. Jones is an American-Nigerian poet, editor, and essayist. Currently, she is a senior editor for Poetry Northwest where she runs her column, The Legacy Suite, a three-part interview documenting the journey of writers publishing their debut poetry collections. She is the 2024 Artist-In-Resident at Northwestern University with the Black Arts Consortium. Her works have appeared in Granta, LA Review of Books, Guernica, Prairie Schooner, The Rumpus, amongst others.
Readers interested in learning more about I.S. Jones and her works can visit her official website. (Here)