I, Divided - by Chelsea Dingman (Paperback)

About the Book

"At the heart of the questions asked by Chelsea Dingman's I, Divided lies an underlying cynicism. What is a life worth? Today. Now. Why is that? Who gives anyone permission to be? And how is that determined? In poems that use the science behind chaos theory as a lens for examining illness and agency, Dingman explores the divide between determination and accident, whereby the body becomes a site of exploration as well as elegy in cases of disease such as brain injury, cancer, and addiction. Much like weather patterns, inherited histories of violence and disease are cyclical. They remain at once determined and yet undetermined, becoming ultimately chaotic. The "I" of the title is fractured over several divides: as subordinate to illness and to a past that is invariable, and finally as an agent of change. The poems in I, Divided function as if within a swirling hurricane, beginning and ending in the midst of the same human concerns, tracing a life cycle and its repetition"--

Book Synopsis

An underlying cynicism lies at the heart of the questions asked by Chelsea Dingman's I, Divided: What is a life worth? Today. Now. Why is that? Who gives anyone permission to be? And how is that determined?

In poems that use the science behind chaos theory as a lens for examining illness and agency, Dingman explores the divide between determination and accident, whereby the body becomes a site of exploration as well as elegy in cases of disease such as traumatic brain injury, cancer, and addiction. Much like weather patterns, inherited histories of violence and disease are cyclical. They remain at once determined and yet undetermined, becoming ultimately chaotic. The "I" of the title is fractured over several divides, subordinated to illness and to a past that is invariable, though finally morphs as an agent of change.

I, Divided operates as if within a swirling hurricane, beginning and ending amid the same human concerns, tracing a life cycle and its repetition.

Review Quotes

"By turns gritty, tender, and philosophical, these poems tackle big questions about the nature of the self alongside the intimacies of family life. It's harrowing, but there's grace and holiness here, too."--Nancy Reddy

"Dingman's poems are experiments in tenderness and vulnerability wrought by the toughened tissues of hard-won scars."--John A. Nieves

About the Author

Chelsea Dingman is the author of Thaw, chosen by Allison Joseph for the National Poetry Series, and Through a Small Ghost, selected by Travis Wayne Denton for the Georgia Poetry Prize. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Alberta.