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Poetry

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Acts of Contortion Anna George Meek The Brittingham Prize in Poetry Winner of the 2002 Brittingham Prize in Poetry Selected by Edward Hirsch In poems that are by turns witty, lush, and unflinching, Acts of Contortion   explores the gestures of both hurtfulness and compassion. Whether set in a shelter for battered women, in the midst of a political demonstration, or at the center of an orchestra, the poems pursue the place of language in an injurious world. The political conscience at work is feminist, pacifist, and at odds with itself. Anna George Meek finds that the brutal and the compassionate are sometimes indistinguishable, born of our need to make contact outside of ourselves. These gestures—of music, of touch, of poetry—appear in the poems as the violin, domestic abuse, and words to comfort a woman in pain. The poems argue: difficult yet imperative, the attempt to gesture beyond ourselves is an act of contortion. Anna George Meek is a freelance violinist, violin teacher, and instructor at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. She holds an M.F.A. degree in English from Indiana University and was awarded the Academy of American Poets Prize in 1995. This is her first book. Our other poetry prize winner for this season fits well with Anna Meek's book, find out more about it by clicking on Winner of the 2002 Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry A Presskit is available for Anna Meek's book, see Presskit. For more information contact our publicity manager, phone: (608) 263-0734, email: publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu Anna is an instructor with the Loft Literary center in Minneapolis. Their web site is www.loft.org and more information about her writing is available at http://www.loft.org/bios.htm

September 2002 92 pp.          6 x 9 ISBN 0-299-18260-6  Cloth $26.95 s ISBN 0-299-18264-9  Paper $12.95 t To order click on one of the bulleted items below For explanation of the SHOPPING CART OPERATIONS MasterCard/Visa holders, accumulate titles in the Shopping Cart and submit your order electronically. Never ordered from us before? Read this first.

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