news | Friday October 10, 2025

Hot Off the Press! Stigmata Has Arrived!

Hot off the press! The debut poetry collection Stigmata by Scott Jackshaw has arrived! Drawing inspiration from a broad archive of texts and practices – apophatic theology, body horror, queer theory, classic films, poststructuralism, and bad sex – Stigmata is an experiment in fractured memoir and misplaced anatomy that weaponizes the confessional mode.⁠

An excerpt from “Contrition:”

“I scatter polities with my strange toe
a latent mystic sits on my thighs
home is a technology of baptism
god has become everything or nothing

I withhold myself
where is the portal to desire
his abyss face lingers or not
I leave thinly and draped in blankets”
⁠
Stigmata fuses the “high” to the “low” – the “sacred” of theory and theology to the “profane” of leaking and lust. The result is a treacherous adventure through the cross-currents of sexual deviancy and religion, helped along by a bitter sense of humour, to the limits of faith and body.⁠ Available now from your favourite local bookstore, or pick up your copy here.