The Case of the MISSING BODY

In July 2016, Otago University Press will release an important new book by Dunedin writer, Jenny Powell. 

The Case of the Missing Body is the true and unusual story of Lily, who has no sense of her body. She has struggled with the effects of this her whole life.

Desperate to try anything to 'be normal', a nevertheless sceptical Lily agrees to begin work with her physiotherapist in a gymnasium. One extraordinary day, working in the gym, Lily discovers she has shoulder blades. All her life she has thought people only felt their heads, with thoughts trailing along in and behind them. Now she has shoulder blades.

There is nothing easy about what is to follow. Neither Patrick (the physiotherapist) nor Lily could have predicted it. But with help from professionals, the writer of this beautiful, moving memoir becomes her own detective, searching for clues to help her find her own body.


Excerpts

~Most of us take for granted the ability to control and coordinate our bodies at will. To be aware of one’s body is, in a sense, to be unaware. The balanced integration of intention, movement and desired outcome is a smoothly executed act. Implicit in body awareness is a link between body and mind. Body and mind interact, enabling functioning on a number of levels. But not for Lily. 


~No matter how much I force my brain into intense concentration, nothing works. I have always survived through thinking. Now something terrible is happening. I’m frightened. Patrick breaks tasks down into smaller and smaller steps. Sometimes I can copy him, sometimes not. He moves parts of me into the right places to do things. I’m a rag doll. I don’t know where my arms and legs and shoulders are meant to be. 


Jenny Powell is a Dunedin creative writing teacher and poet, with eight published volumes of poetry: Sweet Banana Wax Peppers (HeadworX, 1998), Hats (HeadworX, 2000), Double Jointed (with 10 other poets of her choice) (Inkweed, 2003), Four French Horns (HeadworX, 2004), Locating the Madonna (with Anna Jackson) (Seraph Press, 2004), Viet Nam: A Poem Journey (HeadworX, 2010), Ticket Home: 30 Poems (Cold Hub Press, 2012), and Trouble (Cold Hub Press, 2014).