Constituents of Matter
Constituents of Matter was awarded the Wick Poetry Prize by judge Alberto Rios. It is available from Kent State University Press and Amazon.
Constituents of Matter is composed of three sections, each of which takes its title from types of quarks, which are paired subatomic particles. Each section draws from autobiographical material, scientific metaphor, and poetic form to explore the ways we understand the world around us.
Read poems from Constituents of Matter: "Midnight Swim" and "A Rational Choice Theory."
In Constituents of Matter, Anna Leahy looks hard and long at the "solid things" of the world and discovers that they are both reflected and refracted by time. The matter that constitutes her experience occupies a space that is "immense" with "emptiness" but is also "buoyant" with "joy." Like the moose she looks at and who catches her looking ("Moose, Looking"), I find that I’m contained by a "large life" that’s revealed in intervals of repose and stillness.
–Michael Collier, author of Dark Wild Realm
That which occupies space; substance; experience; subject of concern, feeling, or action; difficulty; quantity; something set down in writing; from the Latin mater, mother. What matters, ultimately, in Anna Leahy’s crafted cosmology, is that family, lovers, thinkers, and saints shine like stars through each and every one of her intelligent words.
–Kathy Fagan, author of The Charm
The cover image for Constituents of Matter is entitled "In Search of Meaning #1." In a series of paintings, Lylie Fisher layered acrylics and gels onto images that document particle physics Bubble Chamber experiments. Fisher's print is available at the artist's website.
For more information about the Wick Poetry Prize, visit the Wick Poetry Center.
