Cross Tie 8.16.15: Amaranth Borsuk

Amaranth Borsuk writes poetry that is real—by which I mean truly felt—that is at the same time open to the properties and promises of language. Her poetic work is intelligent and inquisitive, but Amaranth’s “play” is never gratuitous: she unravels language to reveal possibilities rather than fissures. She views the poem, the page, and the book as potential, as pieces of something larger. If you haven’t already, check out Between Page and Screen (Siglio, 2012), a delightful augmented-reality poetry pop-up book As We Know (Siglio, 2014), her collaborative-erasure daybook with poet Andy Fitch, and of course her debut title Handiwork (Slope Editions, 2012), which won the Slope Editions Book Prize. Here are a few lines from Handiwork to tempt you:

          I often felt as if I were a nightshirt
                                                       full of wrens, a standing-out thing,
          ready to tear the skin from my body   
                                                         and completely reveal myself.

 From “History of Song” (Handiwork p21)

 Read more about Amaranth, including recent publications and upcoming projects, on her site.

--- Genevieve Kaplan