Description:
Chrissy Martin's debut captures selfhood through pop culture, gender performance, geography, religion, and medical systems.
Review Quotes:
"Whole, Holy, Hot stretches the limits of desire: speaking the language and mess of the
body, embracing and cursing 'the machine' of it. Bathing in popular culture, Martin
owns a handmade pain, drawing new lines with a ferocity of voice until she powers
through: 'I am happy with my little engine. / I am busy with my productive.' An unruly,
fearless book."
- Jan Beatty, author of Dragstripping
"This collection captures the realities of chronic illness and disability with language that
transcends mere description into art. I nod at a phrase that reflects like a kaleidoscope,
a poem that takes my breath-reminded I am not alone."
- Esmé Weijun Wang, author of The Collected Schizophrenias
"The poems of Whole, Holy, Hot defiantly sing of the disabled body that is still a sensual
body, of the body that feels both chronic pain and desire. Chrissy Martin writes with
radiance and wit, and forbids sentimentality. And for all of the pain, grief, and rage it
contains, this is ultimately a rousing work of corporeal celebration: 'Let me / revel in my
body's own brilliance, my raw naked hurt.'"
-Nicky Beer, author of Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes