Lizzie Harris's Stop Wanting is an unflinching book about a girlhood filled with violence, doubt, vulnerability, and loss. These gorgeously crafted and hauntingly memorable poems are a bleak place full of life, prayer, and the kind of answers only poems like these can provide.

Rachel Zucker

Categorized in : Book Memorable Prayer

Very little of my time is spent thinking about poetry, except the... by Rachel Zucker

Very little of my time is spent thinking about poetry, except the time I spend in class.

class littles thinking

When I edit the poems - and I do edit, which some people don't mean when they use the term "stream of consciousness" - I'm usually editing toward greater accuracy, which sometimes means more fragmentation, because that is the way I think.

editing mean thinking

I almost never do free writing. Unless I am forcing my students t... by Rachel Zucker

I almost never do free writing. Unless I am forcing my students to do it.

students writing

Writing on the subway or anywhere is writing. Maybe it's all just... by Rachel Zucker

Writing on the subway or anywhere is writing. Maybe it's all just writing.

subway writing

Usually I avoid sugar, but sugar is like the most deeply satisfyi... by Rachel Zucker

Usually I avoid sugar, but sugar is like the most deeply satisfying addictive thing ever.

satisfying sugar

I love food too much - not because I'm fat but because it's so co... by Rachel Zucker

I love food too much - not because I'm fat but because it's so consumptionistic, etc.

i-love-food etc too-much

I HATE HALLOWEEN. This makes me VERY unpopular. by Rachel Zucker

I HATE HALLOWEEN. This makes me VERY unpopular.

i-hate halloween hate

I don't remember ever dressing up for Halloween but I must have.... by Rachel Zucker

I don't remember ever dressing up for Halloween but I must have. I do not like dressing up at all.

dressing-up halloween remember

I do not like it when other people dress up. I like everyone to b... by Rachel Zucker

I do not like it when other people dress up. I like everyone to be THEMSELVES.

dresses people

I do not like candy. I do not like knocking on strangers' doors. I do not like having to deal with the candy disaster that is Halloween. I resent it.

halloween stranger doors

Halloween means that young girls dress up in highly sexualized outfits that would never be acceptable if it weren't Halloween.

halloween girl mean

I'm interested in the self. And in the limits and transformations of self. And in self presentation. And in doubt. And in playing with the audience's expectations. But I don't like dressing up like on Halloween.

dressing-up halloween self

I am interested in the movement of my own thoughts and in trying make the poems feel more accurate to experience, including the experience of thinking.

movement trying thinking

My poetry definitely comes out of a female body. by Rachel Zucker

My poetry definitely comes out of a female body.

female-body female body

I love narrative and sometimes I feel frustrated with stand-up. by Rachel Zucker

I love narrative and sometimes I feel frustrated with stand-up.

frustrated narrative sometimes

Humor is essential to survival. Funny poems are vastly underrated... by Rachel Zucker

Humor is essential to survival. Funny poems are vastly underrated. Very underwritten.

underrated essentials survival

I am only able to be honest. And sometimes my view of the world i... by Rachel Zucker

I am only able to be honest. And sometimes my view of the world is pretty dark. But still funny.

views dark world

I think humor and terror are very closely related. by Rachel Zucker

I think humor and terror are very closely related.

related terror thinking

One of my greatest anxieties as a mother is head injuries. by Rachel Zucker

One of my greatest anxieties as a mother is head injuries.

injury anxiety mother

I really, really fear head injuries. But when people hit their heads in movies or fall down - I can't stop laughing.

laughing people fall