What’s that? Do I
look strange?
Come, come, no weakness;
let’s be a man to the last.
I must go in, the fog
is rising.
[Lord Byron, Emily Dickinson, Robert Louis Stevenson]
Death Centos
Diana Arterian
Natalia Porter, Illustrator
September 2013
This is the undying frictioned beauty of Zombie poetics.
Vanessa Place
Arterian employs the ancient framework of the cento—a collage form that borrows the language of other authors—to mine the last words of a hundred people, mixing historical figures and death-row inmates through a weaving of their immortal utterances.
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About the Author
Diana Arterian is the author of Death Centos (Ugly Duckling Presse) which has been listed by The Volta as one of the best books of 2013, as well as the poetry collection Playing Monster :: Seiche (1913 Press), the chapbook With Lightness & Darkness and Other Brief Pieces (Essay Press), and co-editor of Among Margins: Critical & Lyrical Writing on Aesthetics (Ricochet). A Poetry Editor at Noemi Press, her creative work has been recognized with fellowships from the Banff Centre, Caldera, Vermont Studio Center, and Yaddo, and her poetry, essays, and translations have been featured in Asymptote, Black Warrior Review, BOMB, Denver Quarterly, Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Poetry Foundation website, among others. Born and raised in Arizona, she holds a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing from the University of Southern California and an MFA from CalArts.
Praise
Here, Joe Hill and John Brown meet Emily Dickinson in that moment before the lights go out.
Mark Novak
Death Centos, is like all crossings, a chiasmus—put another way, there is no crossing that is not crossed out, no last words not picked up and put out. Reiteration, Arterian reminds us, is relentless réanimation. This is the undying frictioned beauty of Zombie poetics.
Vanessa Place
About the Contributor
Natalia Porter is a Mexican designer and visual artist. Her work includes sculptural and functional objects as well as installations, all evolving from a combination of technological processes with traditional techniques and craft. Natalia’s work has been exhibited worldwide, including: MoMA Design Stores, Queens Museum of Art, Elizabeth Foundation for The Arts, Latin American Design Foundation. Her work has been published by The New York Times, Japan Architect, and Princeton Architectural Press.
In the News
Publication Details
Chapbook
Saddle-Stitched. 24 pp, 5 x 7 in
Publication Date: September 01 2013