{"product_id":"an-orange-a-syllable-9781770418516","title":"An Orange, a Syllable","description":"\u003cb\u003eA wandering meditation on motherhood, language, and art and a parallactic and slow amble through private rooms and interiors. The result is a woman ricocheting off the bounds of a marriage, memory, and herself.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe latest book by Gillian Sze, author of the Pat Lowther Memorial Award-winning book \u003ci\u003eQuiet Night Think\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis prosimetrical work is a meditation on motherhood, language, and art. The central speaker witnesses the earliest utterances of her child and launches into a poetic inquiry of words themselves, asking, \u003ci\u003eHow to measure one's mouth by its words?\u003c\/i\u003e The speaker seeks an answer amidst the language that surrounds her -- words misspoken, mispronounced, remembered, unwritten -- and, in doing so, struggles with signification and significance. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEach prose poem in the five-part collection darts between the many meanings of \"fit\" -- as in \"a sudden burst of emotion\" or \"to be the right size and shape,\" and the archaic \"fytte\" (a section of a poem). A text becomes an open mouth, a square day of a calendar, or a bare fragment of a narrative. The final section of the book is an intimate and ekphrastic engagement with the work of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammersh i. Drawn to Hammersh i's paintings of the empty rooms of his apartment, the speaker recognizes a familiar space of art's insistence. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eAn Orange, A Syllable\u003c\/i\u003e details a period of maternal and artistic transformation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Misfit Book\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/02\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781770418516\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 88\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.29lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.45h x 5.64w x 0.24d","brand":"Gillian Sze","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51798424682677,"sku":"9781770418516","price":21.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_b162021a-985f-43cc-8a3d-c68c3398b725.jpg?v=1758638510","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/an-orange-a-syllable-9781770418516","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}