A Tangle In Every Instance

by Elizabeth Robinson

Elizabeth Robinson is the author, most recently, of On Ghosts, published by Solid Objects, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in poetry and Rumor, published by Free Verse Editions. With Jennifer Phelps, Robinson edited the critical anthology Quo Anima: innovation and spirituality in contemporary women’s poetry, published by University of Akron Press. A new book, Being Modernists Together, is forthcoming from Solid Objects in 2022. Robinson was recently the winner of Editors’ Choice awards from Scoundrel Time and New Letters.


"On Resurrection"

Decease is made of pollen.

In the crooked falsehood of the sinus, Jesus dies again.
Quotidien dying.

Where logic applies, this death
is a congestion, a dizziness.

Seasonal affliction.
Microgametophyte.

The deceased Jesus lands on a compatible stamen or pistil and logic occurs.

It is finished.
The spongy material of the sinus effects a self-betrayal, a sanction.

Daily.

Jesus has no pulse, but this which we call germination, we feel
as a form of rationality, throbbing in our teeth.

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Elizabeth Robinson was educated at Bard College, Brown University, and Pacific School of Religion. She currently lives in Boulder, Colorado. With Colleen Lookingbill, she co-edits EtherDome Press. She co-edits Instance Press with Laura Sims and Beth Anderson.

Reviews

[Sarah Cavar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, magical, sublime. Robinson shapes language like a potter but isn't afraid to be shaped back.