Philly Poetry Chapbook Review is pleased to feature Leigh Sugar’s poem “Ars Poetica” as our third monthly featured poem from a full-length book for Issue 8: Spring 2025. You can find more poetry in their book, FREELAND now available from Alice James Books.
Ars Poetica
after Hermes, tr. from Arabic by Maged Zaher
I want a poetry
that reassembles the body
that is
investigates love
how it is not enough
that is
what prison taught me
teaches me
that is
I want to not be lonely
(This poem was previously published in 128 Lit and is republished with permission from the author.)
About the Poem
Ars Poetica” is after the poem “Small Bloody Song,” by Hermes, published in The Tahrir of Poems: Seven Contemporary Egyptian Poets, edited and translated by Maged Zaher (Alice Blue Books, 2014). The writers featured in this book “came of age in Mubarak’s era… [and] are the poets from the generation of the revolutions,” many of whom “participated in the demonstrations and sit-ins in Tahrir in 2011” (Zaher).
“Ars Poetica” draws from the last stanza of Hermes’s poem, which reads, “I mean poetry/Doesn’t investigate the body/Except by detonating it/Into small bloody songs.” I felt drawn towards Hermes’s insistence on the relevance of the body to the poem, which challenges the West’s common assumption of the brain/intellect (poem) as separate from the body/physical. Hermes’ supposition made me wonder – is there, could there be, a poetry that does investigate the body, without explosion? Maybe even with an effort towards reconstruction? This question drives “Ars Poetica,” which begins by laying bare its intentions: “I want a poetry that reassembles the body.” Following this declaration – or confession – I took myself through a series of “wants,” landing on the most fundamental, yet buried – the want to not be lonely.
I never know where a poem will land when I begin writing it, and I’m often surprised by where it leads me. “Ars Poetica” lead me to acknowledge that which I so often try to suppress. What a plain, common thing – to not want to be lonely – and how devastating to be moved to this confession only after coming up against Hermes’ poem, which speaks to the terrible realization that while a poem may be very powerful, it does not, cannot stop a violent regime, neither in the context of a political revolution nor prison ecosystem.
Author Bio
Leigh Sugar (she/her) is a writer, editor, educator, and, most importantly, learner. Her debut poetry collection, FREELAND, is forthcoming from Alice James Books in 2025, and she created and edited That’s a Pretty Thing to Call It: Prose and poetry by artists teaching in carceral settings (New Village Press, 2023). She has taught courses and workshops at the Institute for Justice and Opportunity, NYU, Poetry Foundation, Hugo House, Justice Arts Coalition, and other sites, both in person and online. Her work appears in POETRY, jubilat, Split this Rock, and more. An associate producer for Rachel Zucker’s poetry podcast Commonplace: Conversations with poets (and other people), Leigh holds an MFA in poetry from NYU, where she facilitated free creative writing workshops for war veterans as a 2017/2018 Veteran Writers Fellow, and a Master of Public Administration specializing in Criminal Justice Policy, from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. A University of Michigan Hopwood Writing Awardee, Leigh lives in Michigan with her pup.
From FREELAND
Drawing critical connections between personal and familial history, the Jewish diaspora, and the racial imaginary of whiteness, Sugar obsessively searches form and language to communicate what happens in the U.S. mass incarceration system. Expanding out to touch on the poet’s experiences with mental illness and disability, Freeland is a devastating and urgent testimony of love across physical, political, and social boundaries, interrogating questions of abolition, race, solitude, and memory.
Available at: Alice James Books
Contents
Book Excerpt: The Prize of Québec by Jennifer Nelson
“I tend to lean into the transconstitutory powers of ekphrasis. … Only in poetry can one go to the moon in a way that critiques the quest for the moon.” Read a poem from Jennifer Nelson’s new collection from Fence Books, On the Way to the Paintings of Forest Robberies.
Chapbook Poem: This Is How They Teach Us How to Want It . . . by Shanta Lee
“This poem explores the levels of our participation in handing ourselves over, often to the people, places, or things that deserve no such delight.” Read a #poem from Shanta Lee’s new book from Harbor Editions, This Is How They Teach Us How to Want It . . . The Slaughter.
Three Poems by Jonathan Fletcher
“Instead of having to choose between religion or the LGBTQ community (which I know many member of the latter feel they have to do), I think it is possible (and maybe even biblical) to integrate both into one’s life.” Read three original poems from Jonathan Fletcher, along with words from the author.
What Happened? On You are Leaving the American Sector by Rebecca Foust
“Rebecca Foust’s new chapbook of poems has a strange prescience. … Foust isn’t alone in making the obvious connection between Trump’s first term and Orwell’s dystopia.” Read the full chapbook review by new contributor Rick Mullin.
‘What if we started creating together? What if we looked at who we are from the side and saw a much more complete and honest perspective?” Read four poems by poet Sarah E N Kohrs, along with words from the poet.
Book Excerpt: Challenger by Colleen S. Harris
“If we look beyond the voyeuristic tendency to focus on the tragedy, what might we see? This poem was a chance for me to zoom in on the calm before the storm.” New poem from Colleen S. Harris’s new book from Main Street Rag, The Light Becomes Us, along with words from the poet.
Chapbook Poem: What I Did This Summer by Elinor Serumgard
“I love New Year’s and the promise of a new start, but I like to remind myself that you can start fresh at any point throughout the year.” New poem from Elinor Serumgard’s chapbook from Bottlecap Press, Analogous Annum, along with words from the poet.
Four Poems by Christa Fairbrother
“Since women aren’t allowed the power of our anger, we take it out on each other, and that’s what this poem is hinting at.” Read four poems by Christa Fairbrother, along with words from the poet.
Multilingualism and Metaphor: On Desire/Halves by Jaia Hamid Bashir
“Bashir’s elegant debut collection investigates identity as the result of choices between individual appetites and cultural frames. … [It] announces an exciting addition to the global chorus of contemporary literature.” Read D.W. Baker’s full review.
Five Poems by Jane Ellen Glasser
“In my fantasy world, I would be able to communicate with the animals I see every day.” Read five naturalist poems by poet Jane Ellen Glasser, along with a few words from the poet.
Book Excerpt: Ars Poetica by Leigh Sugar
“[C]ould there be, a poetry that does investigate the body, without explosion? Maybe even with an effort towards reconstruction?” Read an excerpt from Leigh Sugar’s book, FREELAND, from Alice James Books, along with words from the author.
“…she has a sense of style, a modicum of grace, and she recognizes her place in the cosmic order, where revolution rules every other Wednesday and twice, of course, on Sundays…” Read three poems by Bart Edelman along with words from the poet.
Chapbook Poem: I Worry by Flavian Mark Lupinetti
“I can’t begin to imagine doctors in Gaza courageously practicing medicine while intentionally targeted by the Israeli army aided by the United States.” Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for June 2025, “I Worry” from The Pronunciation Part by Flavian Mark Lupinetti.