Books by Jennifer Militello

Anchored by a wooden ring, an award-winning poet explores her life through the lens of three intertwined elements: the story of a mentally ill aunt in an abusive marriage; a high-school romance with a boy who eventually dies of a heroin overdose; and an extramarital affair characterized by an otherworldly connection.

Poetry. Award-winning poet Jennifer Militello's third full-length collection, A CAMOUFLAGE OF SPECIMENS AND GARMENTS, casts a smokescreen of selves. Fragmentary letters addressing illness and struggle are interspersed with ventriloquisms in the voices of mythological heroes and long-dead composers, ancient goddesses and murdered girls. Intricate "dictionaries" offer multi- layered definitions that, like layers of clothing or ancient amulets, are meant to provide shelter from a world that cannot be controlled. This captivating book stitches together a plethoric identity so as to examine the disguises we all wear.

Poetry. In her second book, Jennifer Militello investigates the tensions of identity as a source of illness and health. BODY THESAURUS presents the human physique as a flawed conduit and, through poems highlighting symptoms, antidotes, and diagnostic tests, seeks alternate renderings for the complexities of self. Even as the endangered psyche supplies a filter, gods are confronted, maladies are faced, and actualities are marked, remembered, or lost. The beauty of struggle and the chance for redemption act as counterstream, increasingly evident and--again and again in the poet's verse--indisputably real.