Entanglements

by Rae Armantrout

Entanglements is the product of a years-long interest in science, particularly physics, by Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Rae Armantrout. The collection includes poems from her previous books, as well as four new poems. Armantrout delved into books intended to make science accessible for the average person, as well as engaged in conversations with physicists. The title is inspired by the way particles can become so entangled that any space between them becomes irrelevant, but also by the way in which the author's daily life became entangled with the exploration of physics.

Genres: Poetry

52 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Rae Armantrout is an American poet generally associated with the Language poets. Armantrout was born in Vallejo, California but grew up in San Diego. She has published ten books of poetry and has also been featured in a number of major anthologies. Armantrout currently teaches at the University of California, San Diego, where she is Professor of Poetry and Poetics.

On March 11, 2010, Armantrout was awarded the 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award for her book of poetry Versed published by the Wesleyan University Press, which had also been nominated for the National Book Award. The book later earned the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Armantrout’s most recent collection, Money Shot, was published in February 2011. She is the recipient of numerous other awards for her poetry, including most recently an award in poetry from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in 2007 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008.

Reviews

[Antonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Rae Armantrout and love the way she uses physics in her poetry. I was fortunate enough to hear her read some of the poems from Entanglements recently at a writers conference, and that was a treat. Armantrout's poems are extremely compressed and require some work on the part of the reader. I enjoy doing that work. That said, the poems in this little collection really strained my brain — and most are not among my favorites, though I intend to read all of them again, probably several times. My favorite of Armantrout's collections is Versed, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize.

[T.D. Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best science communicators give their lay audiences points of entry into complex subjects at the same time as honoring that complexity. Poetry too has an appearance of complexity, often to the point of intimidating lay readers. That the poems in Rae Armantrout's chapbook Entanglements gives us approachable but multi-layered and considered examinations of concepts particle physics in everyday contexts speaks to both her power as a poet and her ability to communicate the intricacies of scientific concepts. The results are compelling poems that allow readers to see themselves as part of the forces we don't consider day-to-day. Highly recommended for readers of poetry, science, and science fiction.

[Nicole Hardina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been interested in quantum entanglement since I learned about it on an episode of the Radiolab podcast a few years ago. I'm glad to see the topic isolated and expanded in Armantrout's lovely chapbook. From my favorite, "Close": "Slow, blue, stiff / are forms // of crowd behavior, // mass hysteria. // Come close // The crowd is made of / little gods // and there is still / no heaven."

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Come close.

The crowd is made of
little gods

and there is still
no heaven

—from "Close"