{"product_id":"useful-junk","title":"Useful Junk","description":"\u003ch3\u003eAudiobook now available!\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1527036148\u0026amp;color=%23ff5500\u0026amp;auto_play=false\u0026amp;hide_related=false\u0026amp;show_comments=true\u0026amp;show_user=true\u0026amp;show_reposts=false\u0026amp;show_teaser=true\" height=\"166\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc; line-break: anywhere; word-break: normal; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-weight: 100;\"\u003e\n\u003ca style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" title=\"BOA Editions\" href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/justine-alfano\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBOA Editions\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" title=\"\u0026quot;I would like to be the you in someone's poem\u0026quot; by Erika Meitner\" href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/justine-alfano\/i-would-like-to-be-the-you-in-someones-poem-by-erika-meitner\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\"I would like to be the you in someone's poem\" by Erika Meitner\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA master of documentary poetry, Erika Meitner takes up the question of desire and intimacy in her latest collection of poems.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn her newest collection \u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e, Meitner explores memory, passion, and the various ways the body sees and is seen. These poems speak to us from parking lots, planes, dreamscapes, and the digital arena to affirm that we are made of every intimate moment we have ever had. Letter poems to a younger poet interspersed throughout the collection question desire itself and consider how digital technologies—sexting, Uber, selfies, Instagram—are reframing self-image and shifting the ratios of risk and reward in erotic encounters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith dauntless vulnerability, Meitner taps into the metaphysical, the ekphrastic, the sensual, and the ordinary moments of life, remaining porous and open to the world, and always returning to the desires rooted deep within the self as a way forward in a damaged world. Boldly asserting that pleasure is a vital form of knowledge, \u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e reminds us that our selves are made real and beautiful by our embodied experiences, and that our desire is what keeps us alive.\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Erika Meitner’s \u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e is composed of poems that are tragicomic-erotic-nostalgic with a twist of existential dread and a cherry of wit on top. Meitner’s speaker is most comfortable, or most able to endure her discomfort, when she’s on the move, in airport terminals and on subway platforms, between the domestic present tense and the erotic subterfuge of memory, sex, and poetry, between selfhood and the selfie. These daring poems exist at the intersection of usefulness and junk, where I, you, and we are tenuously twined ‘together like an interrobang’ until we drop anchor or disappear.” \u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Diane Seuss, author of \u003cem\u003efrank: sonnets\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There are so many layers of revelation embodied in Erika Meitner’s \u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e, and so many selves allowed to speak and shine here. This book is more than I thought a book could be. Sharp and funny and horny and transcendent and generous and human as hell, it is the very book of poems all my selves have been waiting for. ‘Listen,’ the poet says here, ‘we are making art because we want to inhabit everything \/ and not fear it.’ Done and done, Erika Meitner. Done and done.” \u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Carrie Fountain, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Life\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e is indisputably addictive, graced by the poet’s signature clutch on quirky, her dazzling and exhaustive range, and a dexterity with lyric that consistently upends the ordinary. An Erika Meitner poem is not only enviable art—it’s a loosening of what ties us to the ordinary. And the long-anticipated arrival of this new work is cause for unbridled celebration, a necessary reminder that great poetry always arrives just when we need it.\" \u003cstrong\u003e— Patricia Smith, author of \u003cem\u003eIncendiary Art\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ethe bureau of reclamation\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ewe the loyal companions \u003cbr\u003ewe who are hyped about everything \u003cbr\u003ewe who cross the thresholds of accountability \u003cbr\u003eour songs of praise sound like gunshots \u003cbr\u003ewe the supermarket shoppers \u003cbr\u003ewe the leggings-as-pants wearers \u003cbr\u003ewe the shade throwers \u003cbr\u003ethe riven in nostalgia itinerants \u003cbr\u003ewho avoid our mail at all costs \u003cbr\u003ewho remember all our exes unequivocally \u003cbr\u003ewe the hypervigilant \u003cbr\u003ewe who collect regular explanations of benefits \u003cbr\u003ewe who worry about food security \u003cbr\u003ewe the invasive species \u003cbr\u003ewe who dwell (mostly) in the body \u003cbr\u003ewe who buried our long-suffering ancestors \u003cbr\u003ewhat would you like to cup in your hands again? \u003cbr\u003ewater? a flame?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46623943819493,"sku":"9781950774531","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":46623943852261,"sku":"","price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/UsefulJunk_CVR_SM.jpg?v=1630082196","url":"https:\/\/shop.boaeditions.org\/products\/useful-junk","provider":"Boa Editions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}