As with her previous Magra title, Theory of Consequence (2019), Amy Allara displays a relentless exploration of illness and the false clarity that often accompanies its consideration. Using fragments of medical lore from classical antiquity, such as Galen and Hippocrates, Allaraimmerses herself in a meditation upon body and brain, broken and whole, and how we come to know our own experience of the world. As with the earlier Theory of Consequence, this sequence, Unfamiliar Terms, is taken from the second part of a longer work of the same name. The precision of Allara’s verse gives the sequence a lyrical energy that is fresh and very moving.

Drawings by Michele Lombardelli.