Pentimento

Poetry. Alysse Kathleen McCanna's debut poetry collection interrogates the self through the concept of pentimento. An art historical term, pentimento occurs when traces of previous work are revealed, indicating the artist changed aspects of her composition during the process of creation. Employing a playful exploration of layers, alteration, and history, these poems map the myriad paths that unfold before us, and catalogue our navigation through lust, love, and loss. Also the Italian word for repentance, pentimento is made visible using infrared reflectography; in these poems, McCanna shines a light upon the lives we paint ourselves into, and the revisions and revelations we find there. What's exposed is a refractive, multidimensional portrait of selfhood, rendered in twin layers of grief and hope.