FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:A WOMAN’S RAGE, LOVE, IDENTITY: MEDUSA’S COUNTRY
Poet, novelist, translator, editor, and critic Larissa Shmailo presents her third book of poetry, Medusa’s Country. Channeling the powerful female monster Medusa, she sings about addiction, toxic relationships, real love, and the path to finding one’s identity: From “To the Thanatos within Me”:
What catharsis there is in the dive,
the gesture, the infinite jest,
the slash, the brush (its own fire),
the dance with death?
Praise for Medusa’s Country
“Gut-wrenching honesty, spiritual courage, and unflinching vision are what it takes to visit Medusa’s Country. [Larissa draws] on the experience of her immense challenges—prostitution, alcoholism, drugs and insanity—and her immense advantages—a gift for poetic form, a razor-sharp mind, the spirit of a mystic, and a deep intimacy with world literature and culture— to share with us precious and hard-learned lessons: the necessity not only to survive but to triumph, and the crucial place of art and culture in that achievement.”
—Annie Finch, author of A Poet’s Craft: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Sharing Your Poetry
“Medusa peels herself from the pages of mythology to become a denizen of New York City’s margins. . . Along the way, the gorgon assumes other personae, including a whore named Nora. These poems lead the reader through histories of misogyny and sexual abuse. Convinced of her prowess, this Medusa stares into the mirror, where she confronts distorted notions of normalcy. Despite landing on a psychiatric ward, she frees herself with sardonic wit and blade-sharp language. With verve, with chutzpah, with urgency, Larissa Shmailo’s poems are spells, transforming stone into flesh and death into an affirmation of life.”
—Dean Kostos, author of This Is Not a Skyscraper
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