Deed

The energetic sophomore outing from Greathouse (Wound from the Mouth of a Wound) displays an obsession with etymology, bondage, and double-entendres in poems that muse on terms such as cum, swallow, punk, and legal tender as they explore themes of disability, gender, and eroticism. The collection is divided into three sections, with a long poem at the center, “I Want to Write an Honest Poem about Desire,” which addresses the history of sex work: “I can’t untangle lust from labor.” Is there really a difference between sex work and other forms of manual labor, the poem asks? Is using intimate erotic capital to create art a version of sex work? The world of these poems is harsh, vivid, and painful, qualities conveyed through the speaker’s striking attention to language (“the word therapist contains/ The Rapist,” they remark; elsewhere, “Sometimes I pronounce aubade: obeyed”). But the speaker’s voice is also proud and clear, responding to hateful slurs with intellect and humor while taking some swipes at the “CIS woman’s imagination” in which “Scalpel-born dykes” may exist as usurpers of womanhood. It’s an unflinching exploration of the cost of desire. (Aug.)