Self Dissection

Poetry
by Amelia Díaz Ettinger
In Self Dissection, Amelia Díaz Ettinger takes an anatomical journey through the physical body to find answers about heritage, environment, family, and the nature of being an immigrant. The poems in these pages are written in a crisp pen like in an anatomical text, yet still allows the lyrical and metaphor to scrape the surfaces of the physical reality that is underneath, that ethereal something that is so often hard to embody.
Published by: Poetry Box, Portland, OR
ISBN-13: 978-1956285420
Publication date: October 5, 2023
Cover image: Matriyoshka
Cover design: Shawn Aveningo Sanders
Trade Paper
6" x 9"
52 pages
$14.00

Praise for Self Dissection

"Compelling, elegant, and remarkably honest, Self-Dissection is filled with stark, realistic poems that paint an intimate portrait of love, loss, family, identity, and the ever-present need for empathy. In these vibrant poems of nature and biography, Ettinger showcases a true talent for imbuing the smallest human details with authenticity and layered meanings. Each poem maps out the human heart, in all its internal conflicts, with precision and grace. Overflowing with vivid and accessible language, Self-Dissection is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally engaging."
—JOHN SIBLEY WILLIAMS, author of Skyscrape and The Drowning House
"In Self Dissection, the poet interrogates self, trying to grasp, both in corporeal and ethical terms, what being alive in a body means, intrinsically and in terms of external perceptions. There is a morbid satisfaction/ in this intimacy of self with self, but circumstances affect representation. I want somehow to fit/ in this olive brown skin, the speaker affirms, and, in another poem, this skin, with its five million pores bares me open. What does being The Other imply? Dull-faced immigrant’ carries a face of fear. In the end, Amelia Díaz Ettinger demonstrates how we assert our own meanings made manifest through our choices as we travel through life in our very personal bodies."
—A. MOLOTKOV, author of Future Symptoms and The Catalog of Broken Things

Excerpt from Self Dissection
It really is just about the maquillage,
I think

I loiter around my face
each stroke of a cosmetic pencil
redefining an eyebrow, an eyelash
a life
there is a morbid satisfaction
in this intimacy of self with self
to put on powders and mascara
a spell earmarked for internal dialogue
my own reflection as close as any lover
I don’t like my true face
but there is delight in this slow pace
the ownership of stolen time
the rote recipe
first the moisturizer
each brush with purpose even destination
a potential to reveal
anything at first not seen