‘In The Boycott Sally Michaelson takes us on a tour through the eerie alleyways and secret passageways of history. The 50th Floor of the Empire State Building, the Long Island Sound and hot streets of Alexandria are juxtaposed with Coney Island, blaring sirens and butchers being given a slap with a moist piece of liver. The collection opens with a compelling sequence of poems related to the circus and lives of The Lorch Family: daggers through tarpaulin, and ashes stashed “in the wheels of the trailer…. to spin some cartwheels.” A rich and evocative collection, quite unlike anything else.’

— David Tait

‘Sally Michaelson’s poems are disarming, incidental and dark. There are two competing forces: a warmth generated by people going about their daily work;  and an ever-present sense of danger. Disaster sometimes takes place before your eyes in her writing, but she does not flinch. There is a light touch in this writing which holds the background violence at bay. It always invites the reader in, and before you know it, you experience the yearning, the terror, the resignation or resilience of the characters she animates. The Boycott is a powerful collection of glimpses.’ 

— Bill Greenwell