The Mouth Is Also a Compass, Carrie Bennett

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Available for pre-order. Official release: October 15th.

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The Mouth Is Also a Compass by Carrie Bennett “breaks open the sea” and takes us on a daring expedition to the natural world that transports and transforms all of us. These feminist poems of apocalyptic adventure insist on seeking and surviving. They are meticulously rendered and filled with unpredictable images of odd and alluring intimacy. Elegant and stunning!  — NATHALIE HANDAL, CONTEST JUDGE

The Evidence Escaped Like Smoke

At least I haven’t lost the moon—

after the fires and floods and droughts,

after the flocks of birds fell to land.

Now I crave a sky the color of peaches.

I crave warm water with lemon.

My real luxury, still starlight.

My eyes keep cowling to men

who either serve authority

or tomorrow. No beleaguered

sea ever defends the law.

It is mapped out in either direction:

blotting out barriers, bottomless

blocks of history. See nothing, blank.

I’m careful, lost like a distant sail.

Description

Carrie Bennett is the author of three previous poetry collections, biography of water, The Land Is a Painted Thing, and Lost Letters and Other Animals. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and currently teaches writing at Boston University. She is a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellow and lives in Somerville, Massachusetts with her family.