Practical Water, by Brenda Hillman, received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Poetry category.

Brenda Hillman’s bold, experimental poetry charts a course into unexplored territory. In “Practical Water,” her commitment to innovation and interiority is galvanized by the need to speak back to the stark realities of our situation. Observing absurd sessions of Congress, advocating for the planet, speaking against the injustice of war, Hillman’s work looks outward as well as inward. In this, her finest book, she creates an urgent new poetry for our moment.

–2009 Poetry Judges