Autowar

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A visceral, vital, unblinking debut collection of poems exploring kinesthetic memory and longing, inherited violence, and the body as a geographical site.

We’re often told that we are given only what we can bear. For some of us our first lessons are in how much pain we’re made to think we deserve—and the resulting scars are always meant to be kept secret. Assiyah Jamilla Touré’s debut collection is a record of those scars—not those inflicted on us by the thousands of little wars we live in everyday, but those that come afterwards, those we inflict upon ourselves to mark the path.

Each and every poem in Autowar was written on a cell phone, transcribing an urgent revisiting of old sites of pain, and also a revisiting of one young person’s power and ability—to hurt themself, or others. These poems are powerful evocations of how even our scars have worlds and lives.

Contributors

Assiyah Jamilla Touré

Assiyah Jamilla Touré is a multidisciplinary artist of West African descent. They were born and raised on Skwxwú7mesh land and lived for many years in Kanien’kehà:ka territory (Montreal) and are now based on the lands of the Mississaugas of the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Wendat (Toronto). In 2018 their chapbook feral was published by House House Press. Autowar is their first full-length collection.
Chapter Title Contents Contributors Pages Year Price

Preview

beckoning – wishing is not the same as wanting – acidfield – nocturnal – idolatry – practice – bloodthirst – an empty space 17 $1.70

Preview

other me – physics – polychaete – snakeskin – colossal – rehersal – the intimacy of absense – fetishes – flinch 22 $2.20

Preview

their architecture – ape – sun pharaoh – self taught – heroics – blurry – sometimes – keener – autodeity 20 $2.00