Angol
Effusive new poems by Stephanie Burt, perhaps our greatest poet of having yet more to say (Boston Review)
Stephanie Burts poems in We Are Mermaids are never just one thing. Instead, they revel in their multiplicity, their interconnectedness, their secret powers to become much more than they at first seem. In these poems, punctuation marks make arguments for their utility and their rights to exist. Frozen isnt simply another Disney animated musical but the Most Trans Movie Ever. Mermaids, werewolves, and superheroes dont just fret over divided natures and secret identities, but celebrate their wholeness, their unique abilities, and their erotic potential. Flowers in this collection bloom into exactly what they are meant to berevealing themselves, like bleeding hearts, beyond their given names.
With humor and insight, Burts poems have always cherished and examined the things of this world, both real and imagined objects of fascination and desire. In this resplendent new collection, her observation and care flourish into her most fulfilled book yet. These poems shake off indecisiveness and doubt to reach joys through romance and family, through nature (urban and otherwise), and through imaginative community. We Are Mermaids is a trans book, a fangirl book, a book about coming together. Its also Burts best book.
