Viscera

by Felice Belle

Overview

Felice Belle’s Viscera is map and misdirection, evidence and contradiction, free will and fate at the blackjack table. A celebration of the multitudes without and within. In a world that expects women to take care of everyone else except themselves, and find validation and value in such self-negation, Felice Belle’s Viscera is an unflinching practice and declaration of defining oneself for oneself, with radical acceptance of the great, and challenging, consequences of doing so.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798985882407
Publisher:	Etruscan Press
Publication date:	08/22/2023
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 8.74(h) x 0.39(d)

About the Author

Felice Belle consumes and creates stories to make sense of the world and her place in it. As a poet and playwright, she has performed at the Apollo Theater, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, TEDWomen and TEDCity2.0. Her writing has been published in several journals and anthologies including Oral Tradition, Bum Rush the Page and UnCommon Bonds: Women Reflect on Race and Friendship. Playwriting credits include Other Women, Game On! and It Is Reasonable to Expect. She holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from Columbia University, an M.A. in individualized study from NYU Gallatin and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Long Island University. She is a lecturer in the low-residency M.F.A. program at St. Francis College in Brooklyn and chief storyteller for the global nonprofit Narrative 4.

Read an Excerpt

“the systems we serve break because they weren’t designed for us to survive”
—from postcard from the moon

“revolutionaries are not above compromise and jazz musicians must rehearse before they can improvise”
—from next lifetime

“planting a flag on the moon doesn't make it yours makes a hole in the moon”
—from exceptions

“here’s what you learned about truth:
claim you want more and she will make you kneel with reverence”
—from you are here.

“trash can on every corner litter is a way of life life is a virtual prospect the internet is forever, they say what about the soul?”
—from yours as much as mine

“how will you/ structure your time today?/ drink smoke scroll let the destruction be intentional need routine/ long for a commute/ costume is no substitute for character
—from we are left with what survives

Table of Contents

postcard from the moon sunday afternoon in harlem 

next lifetime 

this is how they break you 

nina and frida enter the chat 

queen’s english 

the following does not depict any actual person or event 

baby, it’s cold outside 

the one with the special guest star 

exceptions you are here. 

jay-z and obama make crust from scratch 

idle worship 

ne me quitte pas 

gambling 

this one goes out to 

when they reminisce over you 

art of compromise 

the one where you have amnesia 

land of make believe 

in all honesty 

the distance between you and me 

on the midday m-103 

i’m only on instagram to follow drake 

the one where you blow this popsicle stand 

for the record 

baptism 

yours as much as mine 

rockaway 

in passing 

the day prince died 

we are left with what survives

Editorial Reviews

Felice Belle is a writer of brevity and power. Viscera is Felice Belle talking to us, and it is urgent and beautiful. —Jessica Hagedorn

Whimsically masterful, moving, and profound, Viscera is a collection that captivates with every poem. Belle delves into the raw heart of magic and memory, pop culture and physics. Belle is a voice to be celebrated, who with every page turn breaks and then restores your ragged heart. —Jennifer Murphy, First Responder

I read the entire book with my hand clutching my chest. I laughed and I cried and I remembered people I’ve loved and lost and lost and loved—but that hand never left —Bassey Ikpi, New York Times Bestseller, I’m Telling the Truth but I’m Lying

The everyday and the ecstatic are both vividly rendered here, and the poems are vibrant odes to New York and to black music. Viscera is a collection built from an intoxicating range of references, beautifully constellated, delivered with intelligent soundplay and a powerfully beating heart. —Jamel Brinkley, Witness

Felice Belle is a visionary poet…Belle’s poems are wickedly funny, full of sharp dialogue and precise imagery. There is a casual conversational elegance in Viscera that brings me so deeply close to a poet who is on top of her craft spilling truths from the mug of shattering heartbreak. —Regie Cabico, Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam Champion and Theater Artist

Felice Belle writes, “but i am an against-the-odds kind of girl” and then admits “i don’t want the preacher / i want the pulpit.” Indeed, these poems—riding the ambitious spirits of Prince, Drake, and Whitman—speak into the soul and inspire us all to stand taller, and braver too, especially in times of distress and heartache. Belle triumphantly reminds herself (and us) that “you were born for such a time as this.” —Faisal Mohyuddin, The Displaced Children of Displaced Children

From the Publisher