"Perillo's poetic persona is funny, tough, bold, smart, and righteous. A spellbinding storyteller and a poet who makes the demands of the form seem as natural as a handshake."—Booklist "The poems [are] taut, lucid, lyric, filled with complex emotional reflection while avoiding the usual difficulties of highbrow poetry."—The New York Times Book Review MacArthur Genius Award winner Lucia Perillo is a fearless poet who, with characteristic humor and incisive irony, confronts the failings and wonder of nature, particularly the frail and resilient human body. This generous collection draws upon five previous volumes, including books selected as a New York Times "100 Notable Books of the Year" and as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. From "Again, the Body": When you spend many hours alone in a room you have more than the usual chances to disgust yourself— this is the problem of the body, not that it is mortal but that it is mortifying. When we were young they taught us do not touch it, but who can keep from touching it, from scratching off the juicy scab?... Lucia Perillo graduated from McGill University in Montreal with a major in wildlife management, and subsequently worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. She completed her MA in English at Syracuse University, and has published eight books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. She was a MacArthur Fellow and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She lives in Olympia, Washington.

Jesus the Carcass and the Wicked God is the book with the message of the time. It reveals to you what you have never thought of or imagined. It helps open up your mind and eyes to see what it means to have a rotten system, a decaying living humanity, a stinking church, and a general untrustworthiness of man. In this book, there’s nothing hidden in parables, proverbs, metaphors, or such likes. Things are straightforward and in simple language. Have you ever thought of Jesus being a carcass yet you know he lives forever or of God being wicked yet you know how good he is all the times? Can you, at any time, challenge God, your creator, and term the holy books as rubbish? Just imagine Judas Iscariot being your savior, yet you have a good background on how he betrayed Christ. Just explore what you have never seen before!

Includes the transactions of the Society of Medical Officers of Health.