Poetry. CONTINGENT ARDOR is a collection of poems about desire, a series of love letters constructed through a surreal collage of compressed images. Inspired by the "palimpsest principle" in HD's work, many of the poems are composed over existing texts, including interviews, dialogues, and liturgy. "Tell me about yourself. Inflection expresses pleasure. Where are you from? A house with many drawers and in each one is a bird. Your race? Monarch orange and bristling"--from "Voir Dire."