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Etel Adnan Poetry Series
Strip: Poems
Winner of the 2020 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize, Jessica Abughattas’s Strip is a captivating debut about desire and dispossession and that tireless poetic metaphor—the body. Audacious and clear-eyed, plainspoken and brassy, Abughattas’s poems are songs that break free from confinement as they span the globe from Hollywood to Palestine.
“The mystery that Abughattas composes is always moving toward an impossible freeing of the self from its numerous frames. Yet frame by frame . . . she suspends our disbelief, catalogs those potentialities in an America always ready to shoot, direct, and produce the film of itself. Strip is ‘in love with possibility,’ ‘in praise of here I am, here I’ve been,’ USA style. Strip celebrates the body—its rise and fall, ebb and flow, in a carnival of parties—restlessly, shamelessly, searching for a way out…. Even as Abughattas claims that ‘I can’t believe sometimes I have a body,’ her poems teem with an awareness of the body’s unavoidable centrality in our lives—in how we view our lives, and how others view them; in how they progress, and how they end; in how they become meaningful, and how they are stripped of meaning. And no stripping escapes memory. Whether in terms of dispossession or sexuality, admiration or pity, Abughattas renders her treatment of the body with candor and poignancy. . . . The most startling moments in Abughattas’s poems, however, depend not on shocking or intimate details—but on the ‘I’ pulling away from the self, abandoning the ego, and gazing outward. She tries to see something else, to escape the body’s restraints.”
—Fady Joudah and Hayan Charara, from the Preface
“The mystery that Abughattas composes is always moving toward an impossible freeing of the self from its numerous frames. Yet frame by frame . . . she suspends our disbelief, catalogs those potentialities in an America always ready to shoot, direct, and produce the film of itself. Strip is ‘in love with possibility,’ ‘in praise of here I am, here I’ve been,’ USA style. Strip celebrates the body—its rise and fall, ebb and flow, in a carnival of parties—restlessly, shamelessly, searching for a way out…. Even as Abughattas claims that ‘I can’t believe sometimes I have a body,’ her poems teem with an awareness of the body’s unavoidable centrality in our lives—in how we view our lives, and how others view them; in how they progress, and how they end; in how they become meaningful, and how they are stripped of meaning. And no stripping escapes memory. Whether in terms of dispossession or sexuality, admiration or pity, Abughattas renders her treatment of the body with candor and poignancy. . . . The most startling moments in Abughattas’s poems, however, depend not on shocking or intimate details—but on the ‘I’ pulling away from the self, abandoning the ego, and gazing outward. She tries to see something else, to escape the body’s restraints.”
—Fady Joudah and Hayan Charara, from the Preface
- GenresPoetry
74 pages, Paperback
First published October 16, 2020
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207 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 22, 2023
This collection is completely singular. Vivid and sexy, visceral and moving. There are so many poems I want to write after reading this, and so many permissions I want to give myself. Highly, highly recommend.
February 8, 2021
I’ve been meaning to read this series of poetry for months now. It was absolutely worth the wait, though. Easily some of the most devastating collection of words I’ve read in a while.
March 28, 2021
What an absolute gift. I'm utterly stunned and inspired.
January 3, 2021
I had the pleasure of having the author speak at a poetry workshop I had last fall and this book was everything I wanted it to be. I try not to judge myself when reading poetry as some of it goes over my head but this collection inspired me to whip up some words in my trusty notes app and reaffirm how much I love poetry.
September 2, 2020
Continuing the legacy of excellent debuts in the Etel Adnan series - I promise y'all have never read a poetry book quite like this!
May 19, 2022
“Taco Bell, the heart regrets to inform you, has closed. / You will have to find some other way to soothe yourself.”
March 8, 2021
Not bad
April 2, 2021
An impressive work, Strip takes us through a host of landscapes, ecosystems, and minds to arrive at the body. Where and who are we in the performance of lust? And who is the audience? How much authority is the audience given?
February 2, 2021
One of my new favorites. The poems’ voices are direct and precise in all the ways I love. Have never read a collection like this. It also happens to be one of the most beautifully designed books of poetry, from cover to inside to cover.
September 6, 2023
I feel like you read a bad book of poetry and think Fuck poetry anyone including myself could do this. Then you read a brilliant book of poetry like this one and realize that almost everyone (including most poets) can’t in fact.
The Pure Gold Baby, The Blood Move and Little Dume are my favorites.
The Pure Gold Baby, The Blood Move and Little Dume are my favorites.
May 4, 2021
Most of this collection didn't resonate with me. The topics within lines were too broad for me to grasp the connection of concepts or the meaning behind the piece. However, there were about 5 poems that I absolutely loved, so I'm giving this one a 3 star rating.
April 28, 2021
This is too crass and pretentious for my taste.
May 25, 2021
A sweeping study of the body and the body's interactions with other bodies. Like a travelogue of the self. Each poem arrives unfiltered and raw.
January 20, 2023
My hands down favorite poetry collection! For the hot girl in all of us. This collection makes me feel deeply seen and held 💗
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews