{"product_id":"on-the-spectrum-of-possible-deaths-9781556593970","title":"On the Spectrum of Possible Deaths","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eHonored as one of the \"100 Notable Books of 2012\" by \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The poems in \u003ci\u003eOn the Spectrum of Possible Deaths\u003c\/i\u003e are taut, lucid, lyric, filled with complex emotional reflection while avoiding the usual difficulties of highbrow poetry.\"—\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Perillo has long lived with, and written about, her struggle with debilitating multiple sclerosis. Her bracing sixth book of poems, published concurrently with her debut story collection, takes an unflinching, though not unsmiling, look at mortality. Perillo has a penchant for dark humor, for jokes that stick.\"—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Perillo''s poetic persona is funny, tough, bold, smart, and righteous. A spellbinding storyteller and a poet who makes the demands of the form seem as natural as a handshake, she pulls readers into the beat and whirl of her slyly devastating descriptions.\"—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Whoever told you poetry isn''t for everyone hasn''t read Lucia Perillo. She writes accessible, often funny poems that border on the profane.\"—\u003ci\u003eTime Out New York\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Lucia Perillo''s much lauded writing has been consistently fine—with its deep, fearless intelligence; its dark and delicious wit; its skillful lyricism; and its refreshingly cool but no less embracing humanity.\" —Open Books: A Poem Emporium\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThe poetry of Lucia Perillo is fierce, tragicomic, and contrarian, with subjects ranging from coyotes and Scotch broom to local elections and family history. Formally braided, Perillo gathers strands of the mythic and mundane, of media and daily life, as she faces the treachery of illness and draws readers into poems rich in image and story.\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhen you spend many hours alone in a room\u003cbr\u003eyou have more than the usual chances to disgust yourself—\u003cbr\u003ethis is the problem of the body, not that it is mortal\u003cbr\u003ebut that it is mortifying. When we were young they taught us\u003cbr\u003edo not touch it, but who can keep from touching it,\u003cbr\u003efrom scratching off the juicy scab?  Today I bit\u003cbr\u003ea thick hangnail and thought of Schneebaum,\u003cbr\u003ewho walked four days into the jungle\u003cbr\u003eand stayed for the kindness of the tribe—\u003cbr\u003ewho would have thought that cannibals would be so tender?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLucia Perillo\u003c\/b\u003e''s \u003ci\u003eInseminating the Elephant\u003c\/i\u003e (Copper Canyon Press, 2009) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and received the Bobbitt award from the Library of Congress. She lives in Seattle, Washington.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Copper Canyon Press,U.S.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51138313126231,"sku":"9781556593970","price":15.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781556593970.jpg?v=1751918869","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/on-the-spectrum-of-possible-deaths-9781556593970","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}