24 Pages and Other Poems

Lisa Fishman’s sixth book of poetry is centered on bodies and where they are in relation to each otherwhether a body is of plant; of person; or of words, and whether a body is personal or civic; singular or collective; alive or dead. The contradictions of lyric unfold, in this most unconventional elegy, by means of perception so steady it can change.24 Pages and other poems extends backward and forward, with the presence of many, such as John Clare and Friederike Mayrocker, helping along the way.

As if a corridor

could open or the EAR's two missing

letters h e a r t e a r t h wherever

an animal pops out of the water such as a hooded merganser

appeared to do a somersault diving under, not like a mallard more like a child

or a ball it didn't come up
until it did

Lisa Fishman is the author of six books of poetry, including 24 Pages and other poems,F L O W E R C A R T, Current, and The Happiness Experiment. The first Lorine Niedecker Poet-in-Residence in Fort Atkinson and Blackhawk Island, Fishman lives in Orfordville and Madison, Wisconsin. She teaches at Columbia College Chicago.