Pentimento

by Joshua Garcia

From an Italian word meaning “to repent,” a pentimento is an instance in painting when traces of an artist’s earlier decisions or mistakes are visible through the final layer(s) of paint. Using modes of confession, ekphrasis, and biblical persona, Pentimento excavates a queerness entangled in one’s faith tradition. Whether seeking to understand his relationship to god, friends, or family, Garcia interrogates questions that arise on the path to self-acceptance. In “Self-Portrait as a Virgin,” a biblical persona asks, “How else are we to take words whole / in our mouths, except as they are given?” Concerned with naming, desire, love, and belonging, Pentimento is a response to a kind of annunciation, the almost supernatural calling of the artist to find words through which the self is free to move.

Genres: Poetry

107 pages, Paperback

Published March 15, 2024

About the author

Joshua Garcia is the author of Pentimento (Black Lawrence Press 2024). His poetry has appeared in Ecotone, The Georgia Review, Passages North, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA from the College of Charleston and has received a Stadler Fellowship from Bucknell University and an Emerge—Surface—Be Fellowship from The Poetry Project. He lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Le Dillingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

!!!! Lovely with a persistent ache. I read straight through the collection as a whole, and I’m so glad I did. The poems converse with one another and crescendo as the reader becomes familiar with the author’s world. I would like to shove this book in the faces of several people I won’t name here as a prime, delightful example of work about the body that straddles the line between “too close” and “can’t look away.” A balm to my queer catholic art history boy heart!

[Kristen Parke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Queer poetry steeped in the Bible and art?? Sign me upppp!

Every bit of this collection is exquisite <3

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of poems was incredible. The world is achingly beautiful through Josh’s eyes. Love love love.

[Emily Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THESE and also integrated the idea of a pentimento into my thesis which was kinda random

[Ryleigh Wann · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a collection—I really admired the tone of these poems which felt both accessible to folks who may not read poetry often but also deeply vibrant, tender, and profound. The imagery and twists of lines made me excited about poetry and all the possibilities it contains and the book surprised me every step of the way (which is really the best thing a collection of poems can do). Lovely work here.

[Cynthia Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written poetic journey.

[Gardner Dorton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a hot spring. Sit back and enjoy the slight sting.

[Elizabeth B · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0

[Liza_lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really beautiful.

[Sarah Hisnanick-Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing! Pentimento is a stunning work of art that everyone should read.