Court of No Record - by Jenny Molberg (Paperback)

About the Book

"The Court of No Record, a new collection of poetry by Jenny Molberg, offers testimony against a legal system that often fails victims of violence and domestic abuse. Drawing inspiration from true crime investigations and artifacts, including Frances Glessner Lee's crime scene dioramas and the tragic aftermath of two serial killers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Molberg probes a cultural obsession with violence that performs active erasure of victims' lives. The collection's second section, a genre-bending court hearing in verse, examines the way this erasure can occur inside our own justice system: "The court will open the wound, will fill it with paper," she writes. Excavating her own internalized victim blaming, Molberg interrogates the semiotic trauma a lexicon of brutality enacts on the self and on society at large. By engaging with historical texts through a personal lens, The Court of No Record sheds light on victims who do not find justice, and looks toward a future of positive systemic reformation"--

Book Synopsis

Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry

Jenny Molberg's third collection of poetry, The Court of No Record, serves as both evidence and testimony against a legal system that often fails victims of physical trauma and domestic abuse. Drawing inspiration from true crime investigations and artifacts, including Frances Glessner Lee's crime scene dioramas and the tragic aftermaths of two serial killers who preyed upon women in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Molberg probes a cultural obsession with violence that performs active erasure of victims' lives. By engaging with historical texts through a personal lens, she sheds light on survivors who do not find justice and looks toward a future of positive systemic reformation.

Review Quotes

"The Court of No Record takes us on a Dantesque journey through the infernal landscapes of toxic masculinity, intimate partner violence, and legal chicanery as the speaker's poems are used as evidence against her."--Philip Metres

"In Jenny Molberg's harrowing new collection, the witness of documentary poetry meets the fearlessness of the confessional mode. What results is a book of powerful testimony."--Shara McCallum

"Molberg's The Court of No Record questions our fascination with violence--specifically against women--and our woefully inadequate and misogynist response to it. Dead, abused, or threatened women (the stuff of so much of our detective/thriller entertainment) are given voice in these fearless poems. This is gorgeous poetry of witness, of social and political examination, of deep intelligence, and of a valiant heart."--Denise Duhamel

About the Author

Jenny Molberg is the author of the poetry collections Marvels of the Invisible and Refusal. As a National Endowment for the Arts fellow, she has published in Ploughshares, the Rumpus, AGNI, Adroit Journal, Oprah Quarterly, and other literary outlets. She is associate professor of creative writing at the University of Central Missouri, where she edits Pleiades.