One Big Self - C. D. Wright

Descriere

n nFor a long while now, C. D. Wright has been writing some of the greatest poetry-cum-prose you can find in American literature. One Big Self does to the contemporary prison-industrial complex what James Agee did to poverty -- it reacts passionately and lyrically (and idiosyncratically) to a sociopolitical abomination. This book, while angry and sorrowful and bewildered, has humor, constant levity and candor, and countless moments of incredible beauty. --Dave Eggers, The New York Times Book Reviewn nWright has found a way to wed fragments of an iconic America to a luminously strange idiom, eerie as a tin whistle, which she uses to evoke the haunted quality of our carnal existence.--The New Yorkern nInspired by numerous visits inside Louisiana state prisons--where MacArthur Fellow C.D. Wright served as a factotum for a portrait photographer--One Big Self bears witness to incarcerated men and women and speaks to the psychic toll of protracted time passed in constricted space. It is a riveting mosaic of distinct voices, epistolary pieces, elements from a moralistic board game, road signage, prison data, inmate correspondence, and counts of things--from baby's teeth to chigger bites: n n Count your folding money n Count the times you said you wouldn't go back n Count your debts n Count the roaches when the light comes on n Count your kids after the housefiren n One Big Self--originally published as a large-format limited edition that featured photographs and text--was selected by The New York Times and The Village Voice as a notable book of the year. This edition features the poem exclusively.n n C.D. Wright is the author of ten books of poetry, including several collaborations with photographer Deborah Luster. She is a professor at Brown University.n n