Double Jinx
© 2015, Text by Nancy Reddy
© 2015, Cover photograph by Lisa Gilman
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher:
Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Suite 300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415. (800) 520-6455
Published 2015 by Milkweed Editions
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design by Adam B. Bohannon
Author photo by Cynthia Marie Hoffman
Interior design by Adam B. Bohannon
The text of this book is set in Perpatua.
15 16 17 18 19 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Reddy, Nancy, 1982-
[Poems. Selections]
Double Jinx / Nancy Reddy. — First edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-57131-477-2 (alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-57131-938-8 (ebook)
I. Title.
PS3618.E4269A6 2015
811’.6—dc23
2014050288
MILKWEED EDITIONS is committed to ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book production practices with this principle, and to reduce the impact of our operations in the environment. We are a member of the Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the world’s endangered forests and conserve natural resources. Double Jinx was printed on acid-free 30% postconsumer-waste paper by Versa Press.
for Smith
CONTENTS
• Title Page • Copyright • Dedication 1 Ex Machina Divine and Mechanical Bodies The Case of the Double Jinx Understudy Possible and Impossible Sentences Little, Red Girl-Terrarium Lucy in Chrysalis Big Valley’s Last Surviving Beauty Queen Cinderella Story Before the Catalog of Boats Why the McKean County Lifeguards Left Town Paper Anniversary A Theory of Disaster 2 My Girlhood Apothecary Genealogy Family Portrait with Rosary and Steak Knife Genealogy Portrait of my Father as a Young Man with a Bludgeon In Language School My Father Learns to Pass for Dutch My Father Flying Home From War, 1975 Genealogy Games Lent 3 Our Wilderness Period Before and After, Botched Still Life with Mannequin and Leg of Lamb Fire Plan Frontier Thesis Rabbit Starvation Inventing the Body 4 Bad Magic We Won’t Make it to the Talkies Vigil Friendly Letter Horses Dream of Horses All Good Girls Deserve Fervent Missive Revisionist Love Story Birds Keep Nothing in Their Bones Unsent Defense Cutting Nature at the Joint Come Fetch The Secret Nancy • Acknowledgements • About the Author
Understudy
Possible and Impossible Sentences
Little, Red
Girl-Terrarium
Lucy in Chrysalis
Big Valley’s Last Surviving Beauty Queen
Cinderella Story
Before the Catalog of Boats
Why the McKean County Lifeguards Left Town
Paper Anniversary
A Theory of Disaster
2 My Girlhood Apothecary
Genealogy
Family Portrait with Rosary and Steak Knife
Genealogy
Portrait of my Father as a Young Man with a Bludgeon
