{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1552455114?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"1552455114","authors":["Eric Schmaltz"],"book_id":"9781552455111","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/i-confess-9781552455111","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781552455111.jpg?v=b6afae0a36bf2128","description":"How is a lyric poem like a polygraph machine? A personal, poetic examination of the technology of truth-telling. Eric Schmaltz’s I Confess delves into the complexities of truth-telling in poetry, and the history of technologies designed to produce truth from willing and unwilling subjects, considering what it means to use a device – poetry or polygraph – to draw out one’s most profound feelings and emotions. Exploring the intersection of power, technology, and language, I Confess meditates on lie detection and its history, including trials by ordeal and pseudoscientific technologies. The poet then turns to his own personal experiences working with a lie detector and polygraph analyst. Taking himself as the central subject of the book, Schmaltz puts his subjectivity and positionality under scrutiny. The answers to questions such as What does family mean to you? and Can you describe a time when you felt your best? inspire a range of forms from conventional lyrical verse to list poems to palindromes to visual poems. With an afterword by Orchid Tierney, I Confess is a personal, poetic document of truth’s performance under duress.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781552455111","publication_date":"20250909","publisher":"Coach House Books","slug":"i-confess","subtitle":"Kindle Edition","title":"I Confess"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"POE023040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Place Poetry","score":0.7183,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Poetry About Death","score":0.7107,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Love Poetry","score":0.7081,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"POE023040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Place Poetry","score":0.7183,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Poetry About Death","score":0.7107,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Love Poetry","score":0.7081,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"POE011000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Canadian Poetry","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POE023000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Poetry - General Themes","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POE023040","confidence_band":"high","label":"Place Poetry","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Place Poetry","score":0.7183,"slug":"place-poetry"},{"label":"Poetry About Death","score":0.7107,"slug":"poetry-about-death"},{"label":"Love Poetry","score":0.7081,"slug":"love-poetry"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in poetry exploring truth-telling and lie detection","Readers drawn to personal, formally varied verse"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Iain S. 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Drake"],"book_id":"9781449496470","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781449496470.jpg?v=a1ad18c5526c45a0","score":0.6348,"title":"Empty Bottles Full of Stories","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781449496470"},{"authors":["Christine Carbo"],"book_id":"9781662538209","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781662538209.jpg?v=35cdb245c366f01b","score":0.6277,"title":"The Confession Artist","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781662538209"},{"authors":["Jasmin Kaur"],"book_id":"9780062912657","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062912657.jpg?v=e8a5762c18be6329","score":0.625,"title":"If I Tell You the Truth","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062912657"},{"authors":["Tracy K Smith"],"book_id":"9781324050988","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781324050988.jpg?v=4bf2cb3826847244","score":0.6246,"title":"Fear Less","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781324050988"},{"authors":["Spencer Reece"],"book_id":"9780618422548","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780618422548.jpg?v=d1fd0cd1cdef9c6f","score":0.6243,"title":"The Clerk's Tale","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780618422548"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:experimental poetry"],"label":"Poetry","score":0.1898,"slug":"poetry"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Truth-telling and lie detection, Power, technology, and language, Personal subjectivity under scrutiny.","Pacing: reflective, voice-and-character forward.","Themes: Poetry."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.91,"pacing":"reflective","reader_fit":["Readers interested in poetry exploring truth-telling and lie detection","Readers drawn to personal, formally varied verse"],"themes":["Truth-telling and lie detection","Power, technology, and language","Personal subjectivity under scrutiny"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":7,"goodreads_reviews_count":3,"quality_score":0.8316}}