The Inquisition Yours
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.
Jen Currin was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and did her schooling at Bard College, Arizona State University and Simon Fraser University. She has published three collections of poetry, The Sleep of Four Cities (Anvil Press, 2005), Hagiography (Coach House, 2008) and The Inquisition Yours (Coach House, 2010). She currently lives in Vancouver, where she teaches writing and literature.
