Brigit Pegeen Kelly's vivid, musical verse has impressed the literary community since the manuscript for her first collection, To the Place of Trumpets, was chosen for the 1987 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. She has since published two additional volumes of successful poetry. The Orchard (2004), her third book, is a striking group of poems that takes place in a world of dream figures and contemplates themes ranging from fertility to death.

A key poem in The Orchard—and an excellent example of the "shocking and unfamiliar ferocity" that Stephen Burt finds characteristic of Kelly's book in his New York Times review—is "The Satyr's Heart," which was first published in the Kenyon Review. In this intriguing and mysterious poem, the speaker rests her head against the chest of a headless statue of a satyr, observing the teeming animal and plant life around her. Some of the poem's lavish descriptiveness is challenging and difficult to imagine, but this language is what makes the poem innovative and compelling, and it is an important part of Kelly's song-like rhythm. Her commentary on themes of sexual reproduction, bravery, and higher human principles shines through and provides a rewarding experience for an attentive reader.