The Inquisition Yours

by Jen Currin

Winner of the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry!

A finalist for the Dorothy Livesay Prize and the Lambda Literary Award!

In her ambitious follow-up to Hagiography, acclaimed poet Jen Currin continues her unique exploration of the surrealist lyric, constructing a strong case that, in these frightening times, it may be the best poetic mode for capturing the complexities of lived experience. In tongues alternately vulnerable, defiant, resigned and hopeful, The Inquisition Yours speaks to the atrocities of our time – war, environmental destruction, terrorism, cancer and the erosion of personal rights – fashioning a tenuous bridge between the political and the personal. Trying to make sense of a world where even language is 'a danger,' Currin’s poems reject the old storylines in favor of a vigilant awareness, and wonder what might happen if we 'change the feared penmanship' and embrace a narrative that empowers everyone.

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

First published May 12, 2010

Reviews

[Jonathan Ball · Rating 4 out of 5]

I previously read Currin’s Hagiography, and this book is, to me, a great leap forward for Currin. Her surrealistic imagery seems more anchored and necessary — sometimes in Hagiography I found myself wondering if the poems would be substantively different if their images were interchanged. I met Currin while in Ottawa recently and was impressed with her reading from this book, which further confirmed the grounding these poems have in real emotion — too often, similar poets use surrealistic imagery as a way to escape saying anything of note, as a flight into “quirkiness,” but there’s none of that here.

[Scott Weatherby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first discovered Jen Currin last year, and I loved her work I studied in class, and this book was no different; it's a really fresh poetry style.