{"product_id":"9781556592584","title":"One Big Self","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"For a long while now, C. D. Wright has been writing some of the greatest poetry-cum-prose you can find in American literature. \u003ci\u003eOne Big Self\u003c\/i\u003e does to the contemporary prison-industrial complex what James Agee did to poverty — it reacts passionately and lyrically (and idiosyncratically) to a sociopolitical abomination. This book, while angry and sorrowful and bewildered, has humor, constant levity and candor, and countless moments of incredible beauty.\" —Dave Eggers, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Wright has found a way to wed fragments of an iconic America to a luminously strange idiom, eerie as a tin whistle, which she uses to evoke the haunted quality of our carnal existence.”— \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInspired by numerous visits inside Louisiana state prisons—where MacArthur Fellow C.D. Wright served as a “factotum” for a portrait photographer— \u003ci\u003eOne Big Self\u003c\/i\u003e bears witness to incarcerated men and women and speaks to the psychic toll of protracted time passed in constricted space. It is a riveting mosaic of distinct voices, epistolary pieces, elements from a moralistic board game, road signage, prison data, inmate correspondence, and “counts” of things—from baby’s teeth to chigger bites:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eCount your folding money\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eCount the times you said you wouldn’t go back\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eCount your debts\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eCount the roaches when the light comes on\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eCount your kids after the housefire\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eOne Big Self\u003c\/i\u003e —originally published as a large-format limited edition that featured photographs and text—was selected by \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Village Voice\u003c\/i\u003e as a notable book of the year. This edition features the poem exclusively.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eC.D. Wright\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of ten books of poetry, including several collaborations with photographer Deborah Luster. She is a professor at Brown University.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Copper Canyon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47060313080048,"sku":"9781556592584","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781556592584_p0.jpg?v=1763754267","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781556592584","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}