In one of the year’s most anticipated poetry releases, Anatomical Venus (Radiant Press, 2024), author Courtney Bates-Hardy offers a visceral collection that invokes anatomical models, feminine monsters, and little-known historical figures. It’s a journey through car accidents and physio appointments, 18th-century morgues, and modern funeral homes. Grappling with the cyclical nature of chronic pain, these poems ask how to live with and love the self in pain. Magic seeps through, in the form of fairy tales, in the stories of powerful monsters, in the introspection of the tarot, and the transcendence of queer love.
We’re excited to have Courtney join us for this Power Q & A to speak to the slick and writhing vitality of her work.
Welcome, Courtney!
The gorgeous cover of Anatomical Venus by Courtney Bates-Hardy, published by Radiant Press, 2024.
Q: Why was it important for you to write so viscerally, and in some cases, graphically, in Anatomical Venus?
A: Living with chronic pain is a kind of body horror. It would have felt disingenuous not to acknowledge how scary it can be to have your body turn against you. The pain I experience is invisible to others, so writing graphically about anatomical dissections was a way for me to make the invisible, visible.
I also included poems about various monsters in Anatomical Venus, such as the Bride of Frankenstein, Mothra, and Medusa. Writing about these monsters allowed me to explore how chronic pain, disability, and queerness can other us in the eyes of society. But I also wanted to show how being seen as monstrous can empower us to know ourselves, to fight for what we deserve, and to find others like us.
Writing viscerally about my experiences was cathartic, and I don’t expect that everyone will feel comfortable reading about them. The car accidents I’ve experienced were violent. The pain I feel is violent. The pressure I feel to be silent about my pain is also a kind of violence. Anatomical Venus is a way for me to speak openly about my pain and no longer be silent. It’s an opportunity to connect with others who know what it’s like to be in pain and don’t know how to talk about it. I hope that Anatomical Venus helps those people feel less alone.
Poet Courtney Bates-Hardy
More about Courtney Bates-Hardy:
Courtney Bates-Hardy is the author of House of Mystery (ChiZine Publications, 2016) and a chapbook, Sea Foam (JackPine Press, 2013). Her poems have been published in Grain, Vallum, PRISM, and CAROUSEL, among others. She has been featured in Best Canadian Poetry 2021 (Biblioasis) and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is queer, neurodivergent, and disabled, and one-third of a writing group called The Pain Poets. She lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.