Ocular Proof

Taking its title from Shakespeare’s Othello, a play that questions the veracity of what eyes actually see, Ocular Proof explores not only what each of us sees, but also how photographs modify sight as they capture, distort, frame, and simultaneously encourage discovery. These poems play off critical insights about the function of photographs and the power of visual imagery in the modern world and yet are decidedly personal. They address the unreality of one’s own life, the illegibility of the past and future, and our strong attraction to focused details such as Kertesz photographing stairs extending past the small figure and out of sight.