The poems in 'black seeds on a white dish' spring from the search for what is generated and discovered when loss and desire occupy the same space. But lamentation is not the primary focus-by destabilizing everything in its reach, loss disables rigidity. These poems shift widely in form and tone, and seeds invoke the creative germ that spurs the metamorphoses occupying "Nothing to do but let the form of things take over." Shapes themselves, including punctuation, become a language throughout. Shira Dentz is the recipient of numerous awards including the Poetry Society of Americas Lyric Poem Award, and her poems have appeared in many journals including The American Poetry Review, The Iowa Review, jubilat, Black Warrior Review, and Bombay Gin, as well as having been featured on Poetry Daily and National Public Radio.
Author
Shira Dentz is the author of five books, black seeds on a white dish (Shearsman) door of thin skins (CavanKerry Press), how do i net thee (Salmon Poetry), the sun a blazing zero (Lavender Ink/Diálogos, forthcoming), and SISYPHUSINA (PANK Books), as well as two chapbooks, Leaf Weather (Tilt/Shearsman) and FLOUNDERS (Essay Press). Interviews with her about her books have appeared in many venues including Rain Taxi, Ploughshares, and The Rumpus. Her writing has appeared in many journals, including Poetry, The American Poetry Review, The Iowa Review, New American Writing, Idaho Review, Plume, Brooklyn Rail, jubilat, Lana Turner, and Western Humanities Review, and featured in the Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day series (Poets.org), NPR, Poetry Daily, and Verse Daily. She's the recipient of awards including an Academy of American Poets’ Prize, the Poetry Society of America’s Lyric Poem Award and Cecil Hemley Memorial Award. A graduate of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Shira has a PhD in creative writing and literature from the University of Utah, and was Drunken Boat's Reviews Editor from 2011–2016. She's currently Special Features Editor at Tarpaulin Sky, and lives and teaches in Upstate New York. Find out more about her writing at www.shiradentz.com.
