Poetry. Winner of the Michael Rubin Chapbook Award 2005. "Exploratory in form yet ultimately grounded in, and devoted to, everyday experience, Elise Ficarra's SWELTER seeks to rescue the lyric during the latest war's assault on our senses. But Ficarra does so without turning away (or exclusively to the self). This visually, linguistically, and thematically layered book opts for insinuation over direct statement, parataxis over smooth transition, and openness over closure--its surfaces are as striking as the messages within. Throughout Swelter, Ficarra unleashes words onto the page, putting both text and white space to work with skill and intensity"--Brian Henry.