Diction I: The Paradox of Feeling

By: Gucci, J. A.

What happens to a feeling when narrative is removed?

Diction I: The Paradox of Feeling approaches emotion not as confession but as structure. Organized as a constrained dictionary, each entry begins with a single noun-Alienation, Ambition, Shame, Desire-and unfolds through a concrete image drawn from the physical world. A final imperative line follows, compressing the word into action.

The book is divided into five movements-Friction, Fusion, Fracture, Force, and Echo-tracing how language behaves under pressure. Rather than interpreting emotion, these poems isolate it, testing its tensile strength against matter: glacier, piston, wolf, avalanche, spark.

There are no explanatory notes. No narrative framing. No metaphor offered as shortcut. Each page functions as a closed linguistic field in which diction, structure, and constraint generate force.

Part of the Diction series, Diction I will appeal to readers of contemporary formal poetry, students of poetics, and writers interested in the mechanics of language under constraint.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GQX9G86S
• ISBN13: 9798994675168
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Pressure System Press
• Length: 100 Pages
• Weight: 0.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"