“Sympathetic Biology” by Amy Leblanc

August 4, 2025

Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Sympathetic Biology” by Amy Leblanc. Due to its formatting, this poem is only available as an image.

Sympathetic Biology

By Amy Leblanc

How does a body deconstruct, which is to ask how does a body rest, by which I mean how does an immune system unravel, which is to point out how an arm might jitter when it doesnโ€™t feel like an arm anymore when it is stitched into a socket, which is to say, it is yours, but it is not yours, which is to ask if none of this is mine is this body even mine filled to my fingertips with chemicals, conserved, embalmed alive which is to show that cells rearrange clasps unhook an eye becomes a sieve becomes a hook becomes untied, by which I mean cells submerge by which I need to say antibodies emerge but what I want to know is how does a body deconstruct?

Copyright ยฉ Amy Leblanc

Previously published in the way out is the way in (LCP Chapbook Series, 2021)

Amy LeBlanc is a writer and PhD Candidate. She is the author of four books, most recently I used to live here (Porcupine’s Quill). Her work has appeared in CMAJ, Room, Fiddlehead, Canadian Literature, CV2, PRISM, and EVENT among others. Amy lives in Calgary, AB with her asthmatic cat, Oliver.

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