Two Novembers
Liza Achilles
Upon suffering a computer overuse injury and seeking treatment, Liza Achilles fell in love with her physical therapist. As her arms healed, she began writing Shakespearean sonnets addressed to him. Between November 2016 and November 2017, she continued writing poems to chronicle the true story of her ever-changing love life, often putting a humorous spin on her daily struggles of the heart. Two Novembers is a sonnet sequence that carries the beauty and drama of an ancient poetic style into the twenty-first century.
“This beautiful collection of sonnets vividly documents a year of romance, with its joys and anticipation, anxiety and discovery. . . . It made me laugh. It made me marvel. It reminded me of the intoxicating energy of love.”
—Mary A. Dempsey, co-author of Finding Love After Loss
“Achilles . . . like no other, rains not like a cloud, but volcanic. . . . [She] vigorously ruptures the androcentric hegemony. . . . One of the most assured emphatic influences of our uncertain century.”
—Brian L. Jacobs, poet and editor of Tofu Ink Arts Press
Liza Achilles has contributed poetry and nonfiction to Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The Headlight Review, Tofu Ink Arts Press, Brief Wilderness, The Big Windows Review, Burrow, Exacting Clam, the Washington Independent Review of Books, the Silent Book Club blog, and independent blogs. Her blog at lizaachilles.com is about the literary world, present and past, literary fiction and nonfiction and poetry. She lives in the Washington, DC, area.
“Here is a poet who is not afraid to ask questions, be unpopular with her readers even, refusing to spoon-feed them with easy answers. The work challenges without being challenging, granting open access to its wisdom.”
—Gordon Purkis, editor-in-chief of Brief Wilderness
“Funny, candid, and sexy. . . . Achilles doesn’t shy from her own vulnerabilities. . .. The sonnets hum readably along, affectionately addressing various men and musing about the complexities of love, sex, and existence.”
—Michael Chorost, author of Rebuilt and World Wide Mind
“Sonnets as ripe plums with morning coffee. [Poems about] love and writing, love and writing and books, and playing fair, flirting with Shakespeare, literature, and love with real bodies. . . . I’m becoming addicted. . . . Enthralled.”
—Carolivia Herron, Ph.D., Scholar Coach, English Department, Lecturer in Classics, Howard University