The Abduction
My body held poetry for ransom,
sinistral threat—
first with a little finger
[accidental pizzicato], next
my left foot.
The price was high, mind had to pay up
to make room for the lyric line.
The bootie crossed the blood-brain barrier,
[nothing to do with fair trade]
—poetic packets of plasma data
on the back of stealthy protein
hugged the perimeter,
stole through the interior
over the border—
words worth their weight
in myelin.
Through determination, rage and the embrace of every moment, Kim Clark shows us she is not the victim of the disease, which is Multiple Sclerosis, and not the survivor, but master of the art of living regardless of the pain that interrupts her will.
This manuscript is not for the glossy catalogues of platitudes that glaze over raw emotion. Nor is it for the museum of documented sufferings. This is the literary vivisection of a particular life displayed without pity. As you read each page you will laugh and cry and be thankful for getting to know Kim through her unapologetic disclosures.
About
Kim Clark
Disease and desire, mothering and the
mundane propel Kim's ongoing journey between poetry and prose. Her debut fiction
collection, Attemptations (Caitlin Press), was launched in 2011 and one
of its novellas has been optioned for a 90 minute feature film. Kim’s work can
be found in Body Breakdowns (Anvil Press), the Malahat Review,
and e-zines and other publications in Canada and the U.S.. She lives in Cedar
on Vancouver Island.
Lipstick Press
767 Chelwood Road
Gabriola BC V0R 1X1
lipstickpress@shaw.ca
www.lipstickpress.com
ISBN:
978-0-9880043-0-6
28 pages
Cover image: “Mushroom” photo © 2012 Janet Vickers
$10 per copy plus shipping
To order email lipstickpress@shaw.ca
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing this. My father Jim has MS and fortunately he is in remission at the moment but he does have flare ups from time to time. It was great to read about someone else's suffering trhough this terrible disease. I hope they find a cure one day.
What a fine collection it is, too. Well done, Lipstick and Kim!
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