Extra Limbic System is the second of two solo poetry pamphlets, selected from the open call we had in Feb 2024.

“I write poetry to carve an uncanny, tessellating aesthetic out of the failure of meaning, cataloging palliatives for bodies caught in the crosshairs of biopower, awkward appendages of scientific rigor. Extra Limbic System is a collection of poems suspended between the sweaty, steamy, transfiguration of the flesh and the vicissitudes of clinical identity. Put another way, this is a chapbook of love and loss poems. To what extent can structure be soft? Weaving from precise prose poems to spare, dream-like visions, I aim never to lose sight of language’s ability to disarm.”

Kolya Shields is a writer and artist based in Providence, Rhode Island, USA, where she paints, makes videos and sound art, curates at Small Format, a cooperative queer third space/gallery/cafe, and co-organizes a weekly screening series and performance collective at the D.I.Y sound space Pyxis. Her writing has appeared in Orion, UpRise RI, and is forthcoming in TRAINS art magazine. She likes images of paintings, footwork, and the smell of benzene—and wishes people would read more of the female Language poets. You can find her on Instagram @kolyashields