Toronto writer Liz Worth first caught our attention when she took us on a tour of Toronto’s punk past with her book Treat Me Like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk in Toronto and Beyond. Now, she’s taking us back to the city streets in a very different way.
Amphetamine Heart is her first book of poetry, published in Guernica Editions First Poets series. The book traces sex and love on dark winter streets, staging intimate encounters against harsh city winters. The poems thrum with longing, each one leaving the reader with a sense of not-quite-satisfaction. “We own the sidewalks with wide steps, one slow stumble,” she writes, capturing tortured encounters with unexpected tenderness. To get a sense of the work, listen to the Amphetamine Heart playlist on Cryogenic Husk. Illustrated by tattoo artist Amanda Flynn, the book’s sense of self-destructive lowered inhibitions perfectly captures the feeling of endless winter. But we think Liz sums it up best herself in the book: “Why talk when you can write: did you know your energy stimulates me like nobody else?”
Follow Liz on Twitter @LizWorthXO
~ Haley Cullingham
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