No Sweeter Fat

by Nancy Pagh and Cleo Qian

Winner of the 2006 Autumn House Press Poetry Contest, selected by Tim Seibles. Her first collection evaluates desire through the lens of obesity and body consciousness. A smart and darkly humored... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 193287013X
• ISBN13: 9781932870138
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Autumn House Press
• Length: 104 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

An Excellent, Moving Read

I was pleased to have a friend forward this book of poetry to me, as part of my interest/ research is based on size issues. I was so pleased to see/ read Nancy's personal take on her body, and I am so proud of her for writing what many fat women circulate in their heads on a daily basis. In the first part of the book, Nancy goes through the motions of being in a fat body, and yet depoliticizes it in a way; she retains all the raw emotion that we see as we face ourselves in the mirror, and yet she also starkly resolves some of that hatred. Her poems are surprisingly accessible considering the subject matter, but they linger on a lot longer than one could think.

Poems that risk everything

I am a fat woman and a poet. Never has it occurred to me to write about being fat (though I have been fat my whole life) as Nancy Pagh has done in her collection No Sweeter Fat. I not only recognize myself in these beautifully wrought persona poems, but also discover words for the nuances of experience I did not know words existed for. "Willendorf Venus" is a poem of emotional triumph. "Ten Reasons Your Prayer Diet Won't Work" is a miracle of humor and pathos. Whether or not you've been a fat person, you will find these poems speak the truth about human bias, vulnerability, and risk. Nancy Pagh is a poet of candor, unique thought, and exquisite articulation. No Sweeter Fat a collection I have read several times and will continue to read, for each time there are sweet discoveries to be made.

"I would like to live my way into being"

Nancy Pagh's first book of poetry is stunning, one of the best contemporary poetry collections I have read in a long time. Imaginative, smart, surprising, well-crafted and moving, Pagh avoids the stylistic cleverness and soullessness of trendy/lifeless poems this reader of current American poetry has endured. Her poetic values show in every poem: a reader exists and matters immensely. The limits of her language equal the limits of her wide world, a multiverse. What is especially moving about these poems is their intimacy, intelligence and humor. I trust this voice implicitly. These poems give us new ways to feel. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a fresh new writer who hasn't fallen for the boring, academically-approved style, who has followed her own exigencies and shapings. The book is also an excellent choice for anyone, not only females, interested in body issues, in attempts at human intimacy with others--human and other bioforms. If I were teaching a college level course in identity formation I would include this book in the syllabus. May this poet write many more volumes and may this first volume attract the attention and prizes it deserves.

Intelligent women's poetry

Nancy Pagh writes poetry that anyone can enjoy and appreciate for its fine poetics. But the subject matter, fat, love, sex, gynecology, will have a special appeal to women, particularly middle-aged women. This is fine, thoughtful, compelling poetry, and makes an excellent gift for one's fine, thoughtful, women friends.