Splice

by Anthony Borruso

Winner of the 2024 Louise Bogan Award, Anthony Borruso’s Splice melds contemporary pop culture
with enduring questions. This dynamic, sometimes darkly humorous montage of identity, chronic
illness, and artistic homage examines the concept of selfhood. Navigating a disorienting experience
of a chronic illness where thoughts “get stopped up / like an autumn gutter,” the speaker shape-
shifts into a multitude of voices that reconcile and congeal a fragmented existence. Splice
ultimately explores our constant cycle of reinvention and imitation, an engine that both holds us
back and moves us forward.

Genres: Poetry

92 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2025

Reviews

[Donald Armfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who nods to Steve Buscemi, Bill Murray, Gilliam and Scorsese can poetically tell me our existence is an implant—sometimes organic, sometimes good for us— or just simply, without rhyme or reason. Borruso blends a humorous sense of valid questions, experiences and fascinating wordplay; interweaving its own narrative of selfhood and other things that need a connection.
Splice is wit and wisdom; clever stitches of fictitious thoughts, pop culture and personal history. This makes poetry fun and Borruso Knows!

To name a handful of Favorites:
At the Reception Desk
A Hypochondriac Walks into 14 Lines
Watching Jeopardy I Start to Feel Sad
Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish
Tabula Rasa
Resonance Imaging
The Rouge Patient
Digging My Own Grave

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a little biased since I know the poet, and I still believe these are important poems that pull no punches. What does media literacy look like in the era of content proliferation? How can we come to understand ourselves in such an over-saturated world? How can we understand each other? Splice sutures the fractured psyche of our digital age with clever lyricism and unflinching introspection.

[M Delea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of pop culture and homages to poets, writers, actors, and actresses. Fun collection overall.