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It could account for the panic by Liz Whiteacre

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Original price was: $17.99.Current price is: $15.99.

 

Reading it could account for the panic is a journey into the visceral experience of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). A collaboration between poet Liz Whiteacre and composer Meadow Bridgham (who shared their experiences with TLE to forge the poems), the work is taut, lyric, and propulsive. Using Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland as analogue and metaphor, the poems draw us into the TLE mind-body space, amplifying questions of being and identity. In the title poem, the speaker asks, “What if you were injected into a dream, trying to ride a dysphoric, euphoric, chaotic roller coaster, trying to follow disjointed details, forcing a narrative? Did you ever think about that?” With precision, dispatch, and flare these poems revision alternative mind-body spaces from “less than,” or “tragic,” to sites of imaginative possibility. This is a book that will change you.
–Shelia Black, author of All the Sleep in the World

 

In it could account for the panic, poet Liz Whiteacre and musician Meadow Bridgham invite readers into the surreal world of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). With a crip aesthetic, the poet uses defamiliarization to blur reality and drop us down a rabbit hole where nothing is as it seems; when one might see only loss, these poems explore the complexity—beneficial and destructive—of learning a new way of living. The poetry collection ends with hope for the future stating: “I want to work towards our harvest / we’ll pull things up and start over: next season will be better. / We’ll learn from this, grow, & move on.” These poems show us the truth that the disabled live everyday: the social expectations and reactions are often more disabling than the impairment itself.
–Kara Dorris, author of Have Ruin, Will Travel and When the Body is a Guardrail

 

In it could account for the panic, poet Liz Whiteacre collaborates with musician Meadow Bridgham to bring Bridgham’s experience with temporal lobe epilepsy to the printed page. In poems that range from delicate lyric to raging prose Whiteacre captures the wonderland of experience that Brigham has—not only the emotional, bodily and social challenges but in the creativity that it has fostered. Through Whiteacre’s skill as poet, readers who follow Bridgham down the rabbit hole will emerge with a greater understanding of what a life with temporal lobe epilepsy is like.
–Michael Northen, editor of Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability

 

 

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It could account for the panic

by Liz Whiteacre

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This title will be released on March 14, 2025

What if seizures were catalysts for creativity? It could account for the panic is a collection of persona poems that leap from a composer’s experiences with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE), exploring the surreal, unpredictable nature of living with a neurological disorder. Through themes of adversity and resilience, the collection offers readers another perspective on disability and highlights our capacity to adapt, learn, and grow.

Liz Whiteacre’s poetry explores accident, disability, aging, and wellness. She is the author of Hit the Ground (Finishing Line Press, 2013), and her poems have appeared in Wordgathering, Disability Studies Quarterly, Kaleidoscope, Breath & Shadow, Flying Island, and other publications. Whiteacre is an associate professor of English at the University of Indianapolis. She teaches writing and publishing there, as well as advises Etchings Press.

The composer Meadow Bridgham makes new music from old ideas—a kind of musical upcycling, an antique restoration. Recent appearances of their music include the Rivera Court at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Utzon Room at Sydney Opera House, and Merkin Hall at New York’s Kaufman Music Center. Meadow holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music, where their Violin Sonata was awarded the Frances E. Osborne Kellogg Memorial Prize for best composition written in a contrapuntal style.

 

 

2 reviews for It could account for the panic by Liz Whiteacre

  1. TAK Erzinger

    In it could account for panic, Whiteacre bravely gives voice to Bridgham’s struggles with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE). Bold, painful and sensitive these poems echo the emotional turmoil and loneliness that are felt in the throes of such symptoms. The poignant poems are stunning in their honesty and intensity providing a map of Bridgham’s emotional landscape, offering hope.

    -TAK Erzinger, poet and artist

  2. Rachel Calderone-English and Student Media Teacher Portage Township Schools

    Whiteacre brings to life the experiences of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) in collaboration with musician Bridgham in It Could Account for the Panic. Merging diction from the natural world of gardening with that of musical and medical terminology, Whiteacre aptly crafts a narrative that places the reader right in the shoes of one living with TLE. Whiteacre paints a picture for the reader— “I fly on strings of floss thin like sugar,”— bringing the often isolating feeling of living with a disability to the forefront. These poems will stick with you.

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