A01=Walter Ancarrow
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anti-colonial poems
anti-colonial poetry
Author_Walter Ancarrow
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=DC
Category=WTM
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
Egypt
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Etymologies
futuristic
generative language
hegemonies
histories
language poetry
Language_English
migrations
mutlicultural
Nahuatl
New York
PA=Available
playful language
Price_€10 to €20
provocative
PS=Active
softlaunch
Spanish
sui generis
word origins
words
Product details
- ISBN 9781632431134
- Dimensions: 6 x 9mm
- Publication Date: 06 May 2023
- Publisher: Omnidawn Publishing
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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A poetry collection that playfully questions the meanings of words.
Walter Ancarrow’s collection Etymologies considers language as a process, rather than as a singular fixed history. These poems build imaginative worlds with a variety of creative word uses. They form a playful amalgamation of linguistic interpretations that flips and questions conventional narratives about word origins—including the idea that clear origins even exist. Throughout the collection, Ancarrow questions the intent of writers who use etymology in attempts to prove a specific meaning for any word. In so doing, Etymologies pays particular attention to relationships between the cultures and conflicts, the migrations and hegemonies, that create our words, and it considers how their meanings are furthered by us as we keep them alive through speech.
Etymologies won Omnidawn’s 2021 Open Poetry Book Prize, selected by John Yau.
Walter Ancarrow’s collection Etymologies considers language as a process, rather than as a singular fixed history. These poems build imaginative worlds with a variety of creative word uses. They form a playful amalgamation of linguistic interpretations that flips and questions conventional narratives about word origins—including the idea that clear origins even exist. Throughout the collection, Ancarrow questions the intent of writers who use etymology in attempts to prove a specific meaning for any word. In so doing, Etymologies pays particular attention to relationships between the cultures and conflicts, the migrations and hegemonies, that create our words, and it considers how their meanings are furthered by us as we keep them alive through speech.
Etymologies won Omnidawn’s 2021 Open Poetry Book Prize, selected by John Yau.
Walter Ancarrow is the author of Etymologies. He is a 2025 National Endowment for the Arts fellow and a 2026 writer in residence at Nawat Fes in Fes, Morocco.
