self- portrait as vanishing act by Leslie Ullman

Praise for self-portrait as vanishing act

“Crafted with humor across an unexpected range of topics, Self Portrait as Vanishing Act is a beautifully sequenced series. This is a mischievous collection. Well-loved, showing signs of wear, each portrait is a treasure of the self—a family heirloom, porcelain doe with broken and glued ear; thrift store crystal goblet, lone survivor in a broken set. Leslie Ullman skillfully guides us through her portfolio of sketches, and I’m captured by her magic.”– Robert Carr, Blue Memento

Self Portrait as a Lab Experiment

I began as purple water and minor explosions
created by a budding chemist given her first set—
accidents, all—then was nuanced, enlarged, among
titrates, tubes, Petrie dishes, and beakers in rooms
smelling of ammonia and burnt matches.

I’ve been parsed again and again along grids
of the Periodic Table, then reassembled under
strong lights on squares of glass, by acolytes
hoping to stumble on cures for cancer, birth defects
and old age. On occasion, someone’s politics

have shut me down. Animal rights nudged me
away from living mice, monkeys, and dogs—
this eased me—I prefer the nerveless dance
of molecules, the fissions and fusions
between them, and stem cells called in

like calvary to change the course of illness
and reverse wear and tear. I thrive on inquiry
and speculation. I believe in limitless possibility.
I have waited years for numbers to coalesce
to statistics that can’t be ignored—

given time, I could make you live forever.

About the Author

Leslie Ullman is the author of seven poetry collections, most recently
Uruly Tree (a collection based on Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies) and
a hybrid compilation of craft essays and writing exercises titled Library
of Small Happiness. Professor Emerita at U.T.-El Paso, she serves on
the faculty in the low-residency MFA program at Vermont College of
the Fine Arts. Her awards include the Yale Series of Younger Poets
Award, the Iowa Poetry Prize, and two NEA fellowships.

photo by Jim O’Donnell