{"product_id":"jukejh","title":"Jukebox, by Jessica Harkins","description":"\u003cp align=\"justify\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePoetry, chapbook, 24 pages, from\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b00ff;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-style=\"color: #2b00ff;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/bottlecap.press\/collections\/bottlecap-features\" style=\"color: #2b00ff;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/bottlecap.press\/collections\/bottlecap-features\" data-mce-style=\"color: #2b00ff;\"\u003eBottlecap Features\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp align=\"justify\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eJukebox\u003c\/em\u003e takes place inside an Italian hazing ritual where senior male college students single out a freshman, lock him into a standing closet, and make him sing. In the chapbook, the narrator recounts his memories of being trapped inside the closet after his peers forget to let him back out. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAs a bilingual poet, Harkins composed Jukebox first in Italian, then translated it herself into English. Like the name of the hazing ritual itself—\u003cem\u003efargli fare il jukebox\u003c\/em\u003e (make him do the jukebox)—it exists as a poem between languages. Forward line breaks underscore the narrator's halting, dissociative account—pointing to a gulf that threatens to widen as the narrator finds himself exiled from familiar temporal and physical moorings:\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eno I was precisely part of the state of exception \/ excluded from the real world \/ set precisely between phrases between possibilities \/ a few seconds between thoughts \/ in a mind that might be malicious \/ might be good \/ I didn’t know \/ I wasn’t sure  \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAs the narrator’s voice refracts through these segmented poems, \u003cem\u003eJukebox\u003c\/em\u003e finds moments of hope even as it acknowledges what cannot be transmuted. The trauma of being placed outside of time, “as a hypothetical person,” cannot be set aside, small as this incident is in the face of larger atrocity.  Despite his attempts to retain a sense of orientation, the narrator undergoes a metamorphosis. Even after leaving the physical closet, he remains within a “state of exception,” unable to rely on old certainties: \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“as though my lips were the outlines of a door \/ when I open it I sing without a tongue.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp align=\"justify\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eJessica Harkins is a poet, essayist, and translator. She holds an MFA in poetry and PhD in English Literature from Washington University.  Her work appears in journals such as \u003cem\u003eCopper Nickel\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSaranac Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eBirdcoat Quarterly\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eUnbroken\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eVersodove\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eExchanges Literary Journal\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMatter\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Chaucer Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eInterim\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCimarron Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSALT Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Adirondack Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Comstock Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eRedactions\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eARS Interpres\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eAgenda\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eStand\u003c\/em\u003e. Her first book of poems, \u003cem\u003eThe Paled Guest\u003c\/em\u003e, was published by Kelsay Books, and she is currently translating the poetry of Andrea De Alberti. She teaches literature and creative writing at the College of St. Benedict\/St. John’s University. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jessica Harkins","offers":[{"title":"Chapbook","offer_id":45392170615099,"sku":"JUKEJH","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (PDF)","offer_id":45392170647867,"sku":"JUKEJHe","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0062\/4420\/4614\/files\/jukeboxfront.png?v=1686343054","url":"https:\/\/bottlecap.press\/products\/jukejh","provider":"Bottlecap Press","version":"1.0","type":"link"}