A collection of dreamlike poetry, accompanied by ink drawings, reflecting on the experiences of living in an aging body. With her latest collection, Maw Shein Win deftly braids together the pleasures, pains, and anxieties of living in an aging body, revealing how a mind can log thoughts and observations. Win employs new poetic forms to invite her readers into realms that are both deeply personal and universal, rendered with dreamlike imagery and surprising humor. Reflecting on our strange times and the atmospheric undercurrents of chaos and disintegration,
Percussing the Thinking Jaris a hypnotic book and invites the reader into conversation with their own vulnerability and resilience. Throughout the book, sumi ink drawings by artist Mark Dutcher echo the rhythms of Win’s poetry.
Maw Shein Winis the author of the chapbooks
Ruins of a glittering palaceand
Score and Boneand of poetry collections including
Invisible Giftsand
Storage Unit for the Spirit House, the latter also published by Omnidawn and nominated for the Northern California Book Award in Poetry, longlisted for the PEN America Open Book Award, and shortlisted for CALIBA’s Golden Poppy Award for Poetry. She teaches at the University of San Francisco, was selected as a 2023 YBCA 100 Honoree, and is the inaugural poet laureate of El Cerrito, CA.
"Percussing the Thinking Jaris a marvel of lyric invention. The 'thought logs' make stream of consciousness feel new. Stroke log, vertigo log, anxiety meditations, wild ideas: no idea or language is out of Win’s reach. This is original, gorgeous, engrossing poetry."
"Lately I’ve been worrying about poetic style, which is a branched variation of the poet’s perpetual subject of worry, language. Win’sPercussing the Thinking Jartook me a step away from such worrying, weighted though the poems are wl#Ó