Patrick Smith

Susannah & the Elders is a book-length retelling of a story from the Old Testament that joins a long tradition of artistic and poetic works on the theme: a woman is accosted by two judges who demand that she accept their advances or be accused of adultery. It was a favorite topic of Renaissance painters like Artemisia Gentelleschi, whose painting is on the back cover. Thomas Hart Benton’s contemporary painting illustrates the front cover. The poem is written in long-line triplets with vigorous experimental syntax.