sensorium

poetry

Emily Corwin

• Publisher: The University of Akron Press
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781629221687
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Women in Poetry
• Index: Literature

Emily Corwin's sensorium is a gurlesque party, is lush and anxious and blossoming with rot. In her second collection, Corwin investigates the textures of physical and psychic pain—the celluloid of classic horror films, greasy computer screens and text messages, ballrooms and hallways and pig blood, surgical instruments, lipsticks, medication, teenage romance and demons. Sensorium considers the beauty in body horror, the viscera boiling under a pretty crust.

Contents

sensorium

Outburst as Carrie White

traumata

splint

Outburst as Laurie Strode

Outburst as Rosemary Woodhouse

nuptial

traumata

crepuscule

Outburst as Clarice Starling

Outburst as Heather Donahue

Outburst as Thomasin

scab-picker

wound care

Outburst as Nina Sayers

traumata

Outburst as Marion Crane

Outburst as Mary Henry

zoloft diary

pain management

poem comprised of lipstick shades

Outburst as Ivy Walker

sickroom

Outburst as Ginger Fitzgerald

Outburst as Nancy Thompson

aerial

residence in a time of horror

villanelle w/ anxious thoughts

traumata

Outburst as Melanie Daniels

Outburst as Becky Driscoll

bauble

ghazal with the city sparking

dark webs

sanctum

traumata

Outburst as Marcie Cunningham

Outburst as Jay Height

hello, malaise

don’t forget to send me courage

painbox

Outburst as Darling

Outburst as Samantha Hughes

Outburst as Sidney Prescott

notes to self

traumata

Notes

Acknowledgments

sensorium

1

in dappled sun, in wine sap apples

I dab prismatic gloss atop my cupid’s

bow—the philtrum it’s called, it’s

chrome-like. I have a mouth & it stinks—

this is where I masticate the animal

brisket, the pie pumpkin & red plums,

pomegranate tannins. I dream inside

a jewelcasket, misted in microcrystalline.

2

inside the sensorium, the body of me

is delightful, delighted to meet you. you become

all atremble, my apple powder, my allergy. fit yourself

between my two palms, longing with bile & black-eyed susans.

I will make us a drink mostly ice chips, Chambourcin in a stemless glass.

I will bring us an onset of fever.

3

this bed of dead roses & tuberose & rosehips & hawthorns, this drool

& booger. this floater in the eye—shred-like, collagen fleck. a squiggle,

a garter snake in my garden patch. I shudder as it goes by, in direct sun. I wish

I could extract it, show you my protein. in the sensorium, in drearsome nest

of yellow jacket bumble—my dear, my moon pie—I spy something red & boiled

& glazen. a wax fruit, fruit wax to slide over my stink. won’t you come hither,

come whether or not you like my leather miniskirt, my ether anesthetic—

help me onto the gurney, I won’t flinch.

4

hurtle down the hallway, hurtle down the hedgerows. I flush & ooze,

my mucus membrane something horrible. scab-picker, I make it worse

—slough off the carapace, the gelled cream & jello shots.

I’m afraid this is how things get when I forget my dosage—

fluoxetine to keep the creepy crawlies at bay. my ribs—breakable

rungs to be wrung then rolled out into fondant for the spongecake.

5

my sensorium, my prism—plum-red, atremble.

I feel the onset of fever now. now, I come home

to the medical bed, cold-blooded & spectral—this,

my casket of jewels. this, my crystal & microbes.

my body glitter, it strobes, chrome-like. dunk me into

the wine jug. pin me up for apple bobbing, embossed

like a rosebud—so gorgeous, so gorged with feeling.

Outburst as Carrie White

After Carrie (1976)

Help me into the pail of redblack pig—

hemoglobin and craft glitter plastere...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• sensorium
• Outburst as Carrie White
• traumata
• splint
• Outburst as Laurie Strode
• Outburst as Rosemary Woodhouse
• nuptial
• traumata
• crepuscule
• Outburst as Clarice Starling
• Outburst as Heather Donahue
• Outburst as Thomasin
• scab-picker
• wound care
• Outburst as Nina Sayers
• traumata
• Outburst as Marion Crane
• Outburst as Mary Henry
• zoloft diary
• pain management
• poem comprised of lipstick shades
• Outburst as Ivy Walker
• sickroom
• Outburst as Ginger Fitzgerald
• Outburst as Nancy Thompson
• aerial
• residence in a time of horror
• villanelle w/ anxious thoughts
• traumata
• Outburst as Melanie Daniels
• Outburst as Becky Driscoll
• bauble
• ghazal with the city sparking
• dark webs
• sanctum
• traumata
• Outburst as Marcie Cunningham
• Outburst as Jay Height
• hello, malaise
• don’t forget to send me courage
• painbox
• Outburst as Darling
• Outburst as Samantha Hughes
• Outburst as Sidney Prescott
• notes to self
• traumata
• Notes
• Acknowledgments