Viscera: Eight Voices from Poland

This luminous bilingual anthology features eight contemporary women poets from Poland: Anna Adamowicz, Maria Cyranowicz, Hanna Janczak, Natalia Malek, Joanna Oparek, Zofia Skrzypulec, Katarzyna Szaulińska, and Ilona Witkowska. The opening “Cantata” section presents selections from each, displaying their range of styles, from the philosophical experimentation of Skrzypulec to Malek’s concise lyricism. Standout poems include Szaulińska’s “nirvana,” a typographically inventive examination of the relationship between body and technology, and Oparek’s “Berlin Porn,” a wide-ranging reflection on the eponymous city, violence against women, and how “sex and politics are so intimate together.” In the concluding “Octet” section, each contributor writes theoretically and reflectively about the act of writing. Their insights on craft are as varied and rousing as the poems themselves; Adamowicz imagines literary influence as fungus growing on tree stumps, while Cyranowicz reminds readers that “linguistic conditioning... does not proceed without oppression.” It’s a welcome introduction to major new voices on the world stage. (Nov.)