the poems in lusk's collection "kin" (wind ridge, 2013) were largely inspired by the wildlife he encountered while living in rural northern vermont. the collection was a finalist for the tupelo press dorset and snowbound awards, the sarabande press morton prize, and white pine press book award. many of the individual poems in this collection were first published in national journals, among them "appalachia", "the iowa review", "new letters", "nimrod international journal", "north american review", and "the southern review". the british writer j. b. pick (john pick) wrote of "kin", “…the ability to focus imagery, unite disparates, use language with grace and power…the astonishments which occur every page show clearly that lusk is a poet of rare talent.”