Ambassador of Numb

poetry by Susan Scutti

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Susan Scutti divides her new collection of poems, Ambassador of Numb, into two distinct hemispheres. The poems in the first section celebrate and reference the moment by identifying and describing the fleeting thoughts and sentiments that orbit the searching and suffering of life. The poems in the second section, linked like meditation beads, trace the trek from illness to renewed wellness. Scutti’s poems arrive in a variety of formal and informal scaffolds and structures to catalyze the implications of the words themselves. Drawn from life experience, this collection provides perspective on change and aging yet also fortifies a vision of human existence as responsive to the moment.

POETRY / General 

ISBN: 978-1-962082-91-4 (print; softcover; perfect bound)

Released January 6, 2026; Copyright 2026

74 pages

Author Biography

Susan Scutti’s poems appear in The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, Nuyorican Poets Cafe Anthology, Tin House Online, New York Quarterly, 2 Bridges Review, Oxford Quarterly, The Christian Science Monitor, Loose Change, and a number of other journals and anthologies. Paper Kite Press published a full-length collection of her poems, The Commute; and Three Rooms Press published a chapbook, We are Related. Scutti is a graduate of Yale (BA) and City University of New York (MA). She lives in New York City.

Endorsements

“Susan Scutti’s book of poetry, Ambassador of Numb, beautifully captures the nuances of existence and dualities in life. Rich in exquisite and precise word choice, Scutti’s work explores a wide range of subject matter, including love, death, family, and relationships. Ambassador of Numb is a transformative and thought-provoking work of poetry, which I highly recommend.”
—Ayesha F. Hamid, author of Borderland Between Worlds and Waiting for Resurrection; editor-in-chief of The City Key

“Showing striking syntactical flourish, Susan Scutti nails the worldly details while asking the otherworldly questions. Her savvy persona worries over ‘the prospect of spiritual loss.’ She touches loneliness with a torn velvet glove. For those who love inventive style, ruthless wisdom, and fugitive beauty, this book will ‘open like the heart of a woman who wants to be kissed.’”
—Jeffrey Cyphers Wright, author of Erato’s Inbox

“Susan Scutti's Ambassador of Numb is a cinematic meditation on memory, isolation, and the fleeting nature of connection. Through the lens of a poet moving through her beloved city, these poems explore the workings of the mind—its longing, grief, and its endless search for meaning in strangers and self alike. Each piece is a reaching out, tracing the delicate edges between presence and absence, between the desire for relationship and the silence that often answers back.”
—Jenny Hill, poet, actsofjennius.com

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