Agatha

This is not just a book about the body but a profound exploration of what it means to inhabit one. In Agatha, Lex Orgera masterfully weaves a tapestry of poems that delve into the myriad ways a body navigates the world-through selfhood, autonomy, and the inherent fragility of our human form.

"Make your body mean // juggling, make it jump from an altar," Orgera writes, inviting readers to journey through the complex landscape of existence. From the innocence of good girls to the sanctity of martyred saints, from revolutionary fervor to the eerie sensation of disembodiment, these poems offer a poignant portrait of Saint Agatha's story, told through her own eyes.

Orgera's work interrogates the vernacular of the marketplace, challenges the lofty "powers that be" in their office chairs, and probes the disorientation of a brain shaken by concussion. The poems traverse the rugged terrain of visceral, linguistic, and spiritual experiences, creating a vivid and immersive narrative.

Interspersed within this intricate braid are elegies for deceased poets and distant friends, odes to the resonant power of sound-clinking teeth, clacking bones, the wind whipping along a shoreline-alongside incantations, erasures, and urgent lists. Themes of space travel, lineage, and reincarnation add to the richness of this evocative collection.

Agatha is a collection that speaks to both the personal and the universal. It implicates us, invites us, and ultimately immerses us in a world where "our collective body huddles against the fire, then steps back // into the fire." This is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the profound depths of human experience.