The Sharp Edges of Water

by Angélique Jamail, Sarah Cortez (Editor)

This is a book of stories as much as a collection of poems. In it, the characters swerve between the rain-drenched, tree-lined, concrete plains of Houston and the voluptuous, dynamic terrain of Los Angeles. They face multiple realities, and though they’re earnestly grounded, they sometimes swim in the waters of magic realism. Their story is both relatable and a little bit surreal. ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE SHARP EDGES OF WATER : “For Jamail, loss is the fecund territory complicated by the travails of geographic movement, emotional upheaval, and cultural dissonance and where the poetry sings its best.”
-- Sarah Cortez, Vanishing Poems and Photographs of Texas Roadside Memorials (editor and contributor) “ The Sharp Edges of Water is a collection of superbly crafted poems…poems of faith and freeways, of lies and longing. Angélique sees the details of Los Angeles and love, with a necessity of details we locals have forgotten. As the title implies, you might get wet reading them. Wear appropriate clothing.”
-- Rick Lupert, author of Beautiful Mistakes and God Wrestler , creator of www.PoetrySuperHighway.com

106 pages, Paperback

Published December 22, 2018

About the author

Angélique Jamail is a Lebanese-American author whose poetry, short fiction, and essays have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals, including Synkroniciti, Equinox, New Reader Magazine, Waxwing, The Milk of Female Kindness, Femmeliterate, Literary Mama, and others, and her poetry has been featured on the radio. Her work has been nominated for Best Small Fictions and Best of the Net (for essay), has been a finalist for the New Letters Prize in Poetry, and has won various essay contests. The first time she read one of her stories to an audience was fourth grade; it was a character-building experience. Her novelette Finis. (Odeon Press), first published in 2014, has been praised by fiction writer Ari Marmell as having “some of the most real people I’ve encountered via text in a long time,” and by poet Marie Marshall as “a witty tale of conformity, prejudice, and transformation, in a world that is disturbing as much for its familiarity as for its strangeness.” Her poetry collection The Sharp Edges of Water came out in 2018, and Homecoming, a standalone follow-up to Finis., in 2020, both from Odeon Press. Her novella A Narrowing Path will be published by Memento Vivere Press in 2025. She is the Creative Writing Director at The Kinkaid School in Houston and began serving on the Board of Directors for Mutabilis Press in December 2019. She’s also the creator of the popular zine Sonic Chihuahua. Find her online at her blog Sappho’s Torque and on social media.

website: www.AngeliqueJamail.com
blog: www.SapphosTorque.com

IG: angeliquejamail
Facebook: Angélique Jamail, Author
BlueSky: @angeliquejamail.bsky.social

Reviews

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous, entrancing book of poetry that has, at its heart, several journeys: journeys between hard-edged cities, from mountains to flatlands; journeys from failing affairs toward deeper love; and the journey of a narrator growing from young and wistful to wiser and more appreciative of how crumbling spots add to the beauty of a thing. There are hints of fairy tales, magical realism, and the deeper meaning that shimmers behind what we perceive. So many lines rise and resonate from these carefully crafted poems, rippling across the page and lingering in the mind. Read a longer review at femmeliterate.

[Donald Armfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from Poetry Super Highway trade-off program. This collection is a sharp love note, discovering the lies, then taking out the dirty laundry, but it’s not my cup of tea. I managed to find three poems that I enjoyed...
-The Awakening of Jack Brown
-Joan And the City
-Summer Night Rite

[Readers Choice · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝑻𝒊𝒕𝒍𝒆: The Sharp Edges of Water
𝑨𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓: Angélique Jamail

𝑴𝒚 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘:
I love reading poetry. Recently I got my hands on the book "The Sharp Edges of Water" penned by the author Angélique Jamail. The poems are written in three parts:
1 Joyride
2 Dancing on the Sharpest Floors
3 Those Who Hold Each Other

This book is a collection of poems as well as stories. These poems would take readers to Houston and Los Angeles. The poem depicts that the author is from Houston which is unlike Los Angeles. Los Angeles isn't flat. It has curves and slopes. These poems are also about loss. The poem AFter: Loss describes the situation of a lover whose girl has moved out but the guy wanted never to be done with her. He couldn't eat well since the time she left.

These poems and the emotions that the author has expressed in these poems are relatable. One could very well relate with the poem Jealousy as all of us couldn't see our loved one with someone else.

Bleeding the Sky, Cleaning House, Journey, etc are a few of my favorites from the collection. Language used in the book is lucid and even if you aren't an avid poetry reader, you would be able to understand these poems. Writing style of the author is nice and I enjoyed reading this anthology.

𝑴𝒚 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 5/5