{"product_id":"gray-matter-sara-michas-martin-9780823257799","title":"Gray Matter","description":"\u003cp\u003eSimultaneously restless and enchanted, the primary speaker of these poems is a tourist in the truest sense. She finds herself on trains, in the backcountry of the American wilderness, in crowded European hostels, and in Vietnam, eating a partially fertilized egg. All the while, Michigan, the landscape of childhood, serves as\u003cbr\u003eher reference point (\"A rustic sort of place I can't back away from\"). Inspired by the Buddhist concept of anatta, or \"no-self,\" the speaker navigates unfamiliar terrain, sparking the question of identity and the agent of its construction. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe poems ask how through perception the body metabolizes experience. From this intersection the passionate investigation of consciousness takes flight, framing the slippage between thinking and being, the feast of the subconscious and the seeds planted from waking life, the impermanence of a given moment, versus the materialism of memory, the reality of isolation despite the presence of a crowd, the influence of culture versus biology's common baseline. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDrawing from contemporary neuroscience and rare case studies, the poems illuminate the peculiar interrelated aspects of the mechanisms of the brain and personality. But there is nothing clinical about these poems, culled from dreams and memory fragments. The question of consciousness gives rise to the distinct human\u003cbr\u003eability to reflect, to invent. Which is what the poems--poignant, strange, radiating musicality--enact: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003esomeone gropes for the deer mount\u003cbr\u003e its goofy snarl and patchwork hide\u003cbr\u003ea ruse underway laughter in the pantry\u003cbr\u003ethe deer lifted into someone's sleep\u003cbr\u003e (from \"Staff After Hours\") \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNot the love a mile underground\u003cbr\u003eon a train that slows into the station\u003cbr\u003elike a sore arm bending, but the kind\u003cbr\u003eboarded on a ship and sailed hard\u003cbr\u003einto the storm we've made of ourselves.\u003cbr\u003e (from \"Please do Not Touch\") \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGray Matter: 1. the material of the brain. 2. an expression naming an idea or situation held in shadow. This book tangles with the unknown, but also celebrates the seductive curiosity its mystery provokes. It is a love letter from the imagination to the scientists and philosophers who, despite remarkable attempts, still cannot locate\u003cbr\u003eits source.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sara Michas-Martin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0823257797\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780823257799\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Fordham University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/03\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 80\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.40lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.80h x 7.90w x 0.40d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/02\/2014","brand":"Sara Michas-Martin","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43947361894655,"sku":"9780823257799","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_3f58eefe-e0b0-4543-b039-e060d197029d.jpg?v=1681518269","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/gray-matter-sara-michas-martin-9780823257799","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}