No Obvious Distress
No Obvious Distress, by Amanda Quaid, is a book of
poems documenting the struggles of having a rare form of back cancer, all while
juggling the responsibilities of being a mother, a wife, coming to terms with
your own mortality and the beauty of life.
My shortlisted cover features an invasive colony
of red ants with the Sacrum Coccyx bone as their own back, the same bone in
which Amanda Quaid’s cancer was the most aggressive.
The ants are lino-cut prints that implemented a rough
texture that communicate the theme of mortality, while also bringing individuality
and life to each insect.