Antillia (The Backwaters Prize in Poetry Honorable Mention)

By: Henrietta Goodman

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Synopsis: Winner of the Backwaters Prize in Poetry Honorable Mention The title poem of this collection refers to the phantom island of Antillia, included on maps in the fifteenth century but later found not to exist. The ghosts that haunt this collection are phantom islands, moon lakes, lasers used to clean the caryatids at the Acropolis, earlier versions of the self, suicides, a madam from the Old West, petroleum, snapdragons, pets, ice apples, Casper, and a &“resident ghost&” who makes the domestic realm of &“the cradle and the bed&” uninhabitable. The ghosts are sons, fathers &“asleep in front of the TV,&” and a variety of exes—&“lost boys&” with names like The Texan and Mr. No More Cowboy Hat whom Henrietta Goodman treats with snarky wit but also with grief, guilt, and love. Although memories pervade this collection, these poems also look forward and outward into a world where social inequality and environmental disaster meet the possibility of metamorphosis.