In the Permanent Collection

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Trying to make sense of a disordered world, Stefanie Wortman's debut collection examines works of art as varied as casts of antique sculpture, 19th-century novels, and even scenes from reality television to investigate the versions of order that they offer. These deft poems yield moments of surprising levity even as they mount a sharp critique of human folly. "Intensity of heart, intensity of mind, flowering as one: Stefanie Wortman's poems redeem 'wit' back to its root meaning of 'insight' or 'vision, ' the same root as the Sanskrit 'veda.' For example: the resonance of 'shades' when the words 'blind king' on a truck mean not Lear but 'installer of shades.' Or, a dance of death where the words 'trips' and 'plays' have doubled, heartbreaking and celebratory meanings. In the Permanent Collection merits its title." -Robert Pinsky, author of Gulf Music and 1997-2000 Poet Laureate "These poems seem haunted by a mostly nameless melancholia. In The Permanent Collection, however, turns its grim geography of prisons, mortuaries, and tawdry suburbs into something close to classical elegy. 'In sunken rooms, ' Wortman writes, 'on scratchy rugs, maybe we've never known happiness.' It's that 'maybe'-the smart hedge-that renders her poems complex, often beguiling, but never without a gesture of redemption. This should be part of any serious poet's permanent collection." -Chad Davidson, author of The Last Predicta and judge "In this gorgeous, self-possessed book, Stefanie Wortman doses out pleasure and pain in perfect measure, her symphonic formal skills setting us up for unexpected heartbreak. Wortman's poems, look for redemption in and as art-and as such console even as they seek out consolation themselves. They are spirited and haunted, intimate and estranged. In the Permanent Collection is a first book by a poet who has already hit her stride." -Gabriel Fried, author of Making the New Lamb Take STEFANIE WORTMAN was born in Kansas City. She earned an MA from Boston University and a PhD from the University of Missouri. Her poems and essays have appeared in the Yale Review, Antioch Review, Boston Review, Southwest Review, and other publications. She currently lives in Rhode Island.