Copper Mother

Poetry. "In COPPER MOTHER, Alyse Knorr imagines a future in which Voyager makes first contact with alien others, who then travel to Earth and introduce themselves as 'Our Friends.' But rather than trying to experience something outside themselves, the speakers search for the 'me of ourselves' in the 'me of their flesh.' They create a projection of the 'self' that 'twists, / makes new space, / [and] consumes future' within these strangers. Knorr's collection reads as a cautionary tale of ethical engagement with the other, and how such interactions can easily transform into solipsistic explorations."—Joshua Ware

"If the Voyager Golden Record was intended to display the diversity of culture and life on Earth, Alyse Knorr's wildly inventive COPPER MOTHER is a retake, our new rendition. Honest in critique of gender, violence, and environmental decay, these poems allow that we see ourselves from afar."—Sally Keith