Nerve Storm

"Your thoughts become fluid, volatile; their aroma fills the room. This is a nerve storm."

In her first collection since Bitter Angel, winner of the 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award, Amy Gerstler explores themes of suffering and redemption through a heady blend of folklore, popular culture, and the natural world in Nerve Storm. The poet Eileen Myles has said that "the supernatural, the sexy mundane, the out-of-sight are simply [Gerstler's] materials, employed as they might be in a piece of religious art." A crackling wit and whimsical instinct guide this collection as Gerstler traipses through humanity's triumphs and blunders, effortlessly revealing the surreal and surprising possibilities inherent in everyday life.
Nerve StormAcknowledgments

Petition
Shroud Song
Scarlet Fever
French Leave
Overheard on the Soul Train
Ether
Rest Cure
Mr. Right
My Place in His Heart
That Calm Sunday That Rolls
On and On
Freud's Apology
A Hypochondriac's Account of Herself
My Muse
Dust
Extended Vacation
Around the Block in Eighty Days
Suffering in the Old Testament
The Mermaid's Purse
Lost in the Forest
A Sinking Feeling
On Wanting to Grow Horns
Dead Hunters
Diary of a Lonely Antcatcher
Grass
Losing Heart
Dear Rage Management Supervisor,
Fugue
Duet
Queen for a Day
The Virility Room
Daughter of Eve
The Stretcher-bearers
Doomsday
Nerve Storm
The One for Me
Sad Women's Harvest Song
Duration
Modern Madonnas
Consolation
When empty of light,
An Invalid
Autobiography

About the Author

Amy Gerstler is a writer of poetry, nonfiction, and journalism who lives in Los Angeles. She is the author of ten previous poetry collections, including Bitter Angel, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Crown of Weeds, which won a California Book Award. Her most recent collection, Scattered at Sea, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The American Poetry Review, and several volumes of Best American Poetry. She teaches in the graduate fine arts department at Art Center, College of Design, in Pasadena, California, and is a member of the core faculty of the Bennington Writing Seminars MFA program at Bennington College in Vermont. View titles by Amy Gerstler

About

"Your thoughts become fluid, volatile; their aroma fills the room. This is a nerve storm."

In her first collection since Bitter Angel, winner of the 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award, Amy Gerstler explores themes of suffering and redemption through a heady blend of folklore, popular culture, and the natural world in Nerve Storm. The poet Eileen Myles has said that "the supernatural, the sexy mundane, the out-of-sight are simply [Gerstler's] materials, employed as they might be in a piece of religious art." A crackling wit and whimsical instinct guide this collection as Gerstler traipses through humanity's triumphs and blunders, effortlessly revealing the surreal and surprising possibilities inherent in everyday life.

Table of Contents

Nerve StormAcknowledgments

Petition
Shroud Song
Scarlet Fever
French Leave
Overheard on the Soul Train
Ether
Rest Cure
Mr. Right
My Place in His Heart
That Calm Sunday That Rolls
On and On
Freud's Apology
A Hypochondriac's Account of Herself
My Muse
Dust
Extended Vacation
Around the Block in Eighty Days
Suffering in the Old Testament
The Mermaid's Purse
Lost in the Forest
A Sinking Feeling
On Wanting to Grow Horns
Dead Hunters
Diary of a Lonely Antcatcher
Grass
Losing Heart
Dear Rage Management Supervisor,
Fugue
Duet
Queen for a Day
The Virility Room
Daughter of Eve
The Stretcher-bearers
Doomsday
Nerve Storm
The One for Me
Sad Women's Harvest Song
Duration
Modern Madonnas
Consolation
When empty of light,
An Invalid
Autobiography

About the Author

Author

Amy Gerstler is a writer of poetry, nonfiction, and journalism who lives in Los Angeles. She is the author of ten previous poetry collections, including Bitter Angel, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Crown of Weeds, which won a California Book Award. Her most recent collection, Scattered at Sea, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The American Poetry Review, and several volumes of Best American Poetry. She teaches in the graduate fine arts department at Art Center, College of Design, in Pasadena, California, and is a member of the core faculty of the Bennington Writing Seminars MFA program at Bennington College in Vermont. View titles by Amy Gerstler

Books for Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Every May we celebrate the rich history and culture of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Browse a curated selection of fiction and nonfiction books by AANHPI creators that we think your students will love. Find our full collection of titles for Higher Education here.

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