In this bold follow-up to her celebrated debut collection, Ecologia, Sophia Anfinn Tonnessen pushes her once prayerful voice into a full-throated war cry. Choke offers a daring fusion of experimental poetry and a fictional scientific study, creating a disorienting and mesmerizing exploration of identity, desire, and the relentless scrutiny faced by trans people.
Tonnessen's verse pulses with raw emotion and linguistic innovation, defying conventional approaches to evoke a visceral, bodily response. Her poems — flowing water and shattering glass, alike — create a kaleidoscopic lens, through which she examines body, memory, and transformation with unflinching honesty and disarming tenderness.
Interspersed throughout are clinical "research reports" — Tonnessen's own biting satire of objectification and medicalization. These fictional documents serve as a stark counterpoint to the deeply personal poetry, highlighting the disconnect between private experiences and public observations.
Choke is more than a collection of poems; it offers an immersive journey into the complexities of existing in a world that is simultaneously fascinated by and hostile to trans bodies and experiences. Tonnessen's unmistakable voice, honed in Ecologia and now refined to a razor's edge, cements her place as one of the most vital and innovative poets of her generation.
Prepare to be challenged, moved, and utterly transformed by this groundbreaking work that defies easy categorization and demands the readerly courage to be experienced.
Sophia Anfinn Tonnessen is the author of Ecologia (2021), which earned a coveted Kirkus starred review and was named to the publication's 2022 list of best poetry collections. Her poems have been finalists for a number of prestigious prizes and have appeared in notable anthologies, including The Experiment Will Not Be Bound and New York's Best Emerging Poets. A graduate of Columbia University, she presently studies Slavic Literature at the University of Michigan.
"These poems are an unflinching act of protest, fighting tooth-and-nail for a humanity that history has denied. As they excavate the depths of trans experience, they claw at its oppositions: both obsessed with corporality and in protest of its limitations, weighted by history's violence yet incited by its flames. These poems summon shadow-worlds of possibility and ask us to imagine a reality where queer intimacy is unquestioned and tenderness has no cost. Each page brings language to its knees, demanding that poetry withstand the weight of love, rage, and history." — Caroline Harper New
"Tonnessen's poems examine transitions and transformations in all their danger and beauty… [Her] sprawling poems often employ pauses or unfinished lines, sometimes to convey wry or fraught understatement. The speaker works her way from anguish to a deeply felt sense of spiritual union … and continually achieves lyrical moments of grace that feel utterly authentic, making these seeming dislocations into a connected whole and a beautiful manifestation of her experiences. A well-crafted, tender collection that emphasizes exploration." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review), previous praise
"Ecologia is one of the 100 best indie books of 2022." — Kirkus Reviews, previous praise
