apocrifa

(Paperback)

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apocrifa imagines a love that sits comfortably at the crossroads of commitment and freedom. The developing intimacy between a lover and their beloved is propelled by a compendium of words for love, romance, sex, relationships, and affection that do not lend to direct translation in English. Serving as both titles and markers of the progression of time, these poetically defined words highlight the growing tension of one who claims i cannot love you enough/to unlove the wide world and yet is inextricably drawn to the offer of a place of sustenance, rest, and my delight in your very bones. Heavily inspired by the metaphors and structures of Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon), from the Apocryphal books of the Bible, the characters speak to each other with contrapuntal call-and-response while letting us into their private thoughts through epistles, sestinas, odes, and other poetic forms.

Reviews

"The expansive and formally inventive second collection from Flame (Ordinary Cruelty) considers the cornerstones of romancedoubt, surrender, grief, resolutionthrough poems about hunger, exploration, and forbidden fruit." Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Amber Flame is an interdisciplinary artist whose work garnered residencies with Hedgebrook, Vermont Studio Center, and more. Her first poetry collection, Ordinary Cruelty, was published through Write Bloody Press. Flame is a recipient of Seattle Office of Arts and Cultures CityArtist grant and served as Hugo House's 20172019 Writer-in-Residence for Poetry. Flames work featured in Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19. She is Program Director for Hedgebrook, a residency for women-identified writers. Amber Flame is a queer Black dandy in Tacoma, Washington, who falls hard for a jumpsuit and some fresh kicks.