An Introduction to Elizabeth A.I. Powell by Kristina Marie Darling


Elizabeth A.I. Powell’s writing is as brilliant in its ideas as it is beautiful in its use of language. Here, Powell offers ecriture feminine, in the grand tradition of Helene Cixous, writing that invokes performative language as a feminist gesture. In doing so, she shows us that the logic governing both language and the body is inherently political. These are poems that offer a profound linguistic and philosophical intervention, all the while offering us writerly craft of the highest order.

Elizabeth A.I. Powell is the author of three books of poems, including Atomizer (LSU Press, 2020). Her second book of poems, Willy Loman’s Reckless Daughter: Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances was named a “Books We Love 2016” by TheNew Yorker. CK Williams chose her first book The Republic of Self as the New Issues First Book Prize winner. Her novel Concerning the Holy Ghost’s Interpretation of JCrew Catalogues was published in 2019 in the U.K. She is Editor of Green Mountains Reviewand Professor of Creative Writing at Northern Vermont University.