In the Permanent Collection

Trying to make sense of a disordered world, Stefanie Wortman's debut collection examines
works of art as varied as casts of antique sculpture, 19th-century novels, and even scenes
from reality television to investigate the versions of order that they offer. These deft poems yield moments of surprising levity even as they mount a sharp critique of human folly.

"Intensity of heart, intensity of mind, flowering as one: Stefanie Wortman's poems
redeem 'wit' back to its root meaning of 'insight' or 'vision,' the same root as the
Sanskrit 'veda.' For example: the resonance of 'shades' when the words 'blind king' on
a truck mean not Lear but 'installer of shades.' Or, a dance of death where the words
'trips' and 'plays' have doubled, heartbreaking and celebratory meanings. In the Permanent
Collection merits its title."
-Robert Pinsky, author of Gulf Music and 1997-2000 Poet Laureate

"These poems seem haunted by a mostly nameless melancholia. In The Permanent
Collection, however, turns its grim geography of prisons, mortuaries, and tawdry
suburbs into something close to classical elegy. 'In sunken rooms,' Wortman writes,
'on scratchy rugs, maybe we've never known happiness.' It's that 'maybe'-the smart
hedge-that renders her poems complex, often beguiling, but never without a gesture
of redemption. This should be part of any serious poet's permanent collection."
-Chad Davidson, author of The Last Predicta and judge

"In this gorgeous, self-possessed book, Stefanie Wortman doses out pleasure and
pain in perfect measure, her symphonic formal skills setting us up for unexpected
heartbreak. Wortman's poems, look for redemption in and as art-and as such console
even as they seek out consolation themselves. They are spirited and haunted,
intimate and estranged. In the Permanent Collection is a first book by a poet who has
already hit her stride."
-Gabriel Fried, author of Making the New Lamb Take

STEFANIE WORTMAN was born in Kansas City. She earned an MA
from Boston University and a PhD from the University of Missouri. Her
poems and essays have appeared in the Yale Review, Antioch Review,
Boston Review, Southwest Review, and other publications. She currently
lives in Rhode Island.