Whipped

"My body less a body, more the wounds I found blooming in its flesh, / each its own gentle sainthood, a readiness for death" Rickey Laurentiis writes in "Stung," from his chapbook Whipped. Taut and lyrical, these poems delve into love and violence and where the two meet with intensity and honesty. Rickey Laurentiis is the recipient of fellowships from the Cave Canem Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Italy, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, and a Chancellor’s Fellowship from Washington University in St Louis, where he is completing his MFA.