No Sweeter Fat

by Nancy Pagh

Winner of the 2006 Autumn House Press Poetry Contest, selected by Tim Seibles. Her first collection evaluates desire through the lens of obesity and body consciousness. A smart and darkly humored debut.

Genres: Poetry

104 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2006

Reviews

[Hallie Elizabeth]

read this per a recommendation of a professor at my school and it was so great. such great imagery, such lovely descriptions. my fav poems:

“fat lady reads”
“fat woman with cats”
“fat lady’s bath”
“fat girl haiku”
“she might have been a cutter”
“willendorf venus, found”
“G.B.S.”
“ten reasons your prayer diet won’t work”
“coming in
“seal”
“hysteroscopy”
“come to the lake”
“timothy treadwell”
“after i die”
“spring salmon at night”
“imaginary home”
“bait”
“eight years old”
“this is not”
“after easter”
“unaccountable”
“i believe i could kneel”
“mercury”

[Maya]

Another good book for my commute . . . I liked the first section the best, but enjoyed the rest as well.

[Carolyne Mistake]

I want to give this book to my mother but I don't want to part with it. It is a collection of poetry based largely around a woman's coming to terms with her own obesity and sexuality. It is incredibly confessionalistic, but not in the classic sense of the poetic movement, moreso in the way she fearlessly writes about topics that are largely brushed under the carpets, such as middle-aged virginity, the sexuality and femininity of the obese woman, etc. Not all these poems are autobiographical, but the book certainly speaks as a complete text by one woman, or by a siren for a group of woman, or people in general who can relate. Pagh has also noted that in finishing this book and getting it published, she has lost 70 pounds. The weight carried in the book's bindings, all these feelings that before had to be kept relatively secret, was shed with it's publication and recognition.

[Sarah]

No Sweeter Fat by Nancy Pagh (2006)