Happy news: Rose Metal Press has picked up my prose poetry manuscript,
TINDERBOX LAWN.
It will appear as a book in 2008.
I'm delighted, both because Rose Metal Press makes such beautiful,
elegant books, and because I went a little crazy writing and revising
these poems. I knew what I was trying to do -- I had faith in my project --
but for a while I was pretty alone with it, in that way that artists
are sometimes alone with ideas. I just wasn't sure anyone else
would understand what I was trying to do.
The poems are structurally identical (or nearly): small blocks
of prose. No line breaks, little punctuation, no titles.
The goal I set for myself was to try to convey a very specific
sound without using line breaks or lots of punctuation;
without using titles to set the tone.
The themes are interwoven; I wanted the book to read
like fragments of a novel, as if someone cut a novel
into shards. Central to the book is the juxtaposition
of sex work and domestic labor. I wanted to write poems
that started in strip clubs and ended in kitchens (or vice versa).
Thanks to Elizabeth for endless conversations
about our various writing projects this summer;
thanks to Amanda and Jeremy for reading drafts.
It will appear as a book in 2008.
I'm delighted, both because Rose Metal Press makes such beautiful,
elegant books, and because I went a little crazy writing and revising
these poems. I knew what I was trying to do -- I had faith in my project --
but for a while I was pretty alone with it, in that way that artists
are sometimes alone with ideas. I just wasn't sure anyone else
would understand what I was trying to do.
The poems are structurally identical (or nearly): small blocks
of prose. No line breaks, little punctuation, no titles.
The goal I set for myself was to try to convey a very specific
sound without using line breaks or lots of punctuation;
without using titles to set the tone.
The themes are interwoven; I wanted the book to read
like fragments of a novel, as if someone cut a novel
into shards. Central to the book is the juxtaposition
of sex work and domestic labor. I wanted to write poems
that started in strip clubs and ended in kitchens (or vice versa).
Thanks to Elizabeth for endless conversations
about our various writing projects this summer;
thanks to Amanda and Jeremy for reading drafts.
Comments
(and thank you for helping others of us feel slightly less alone with our ideas.)
amelia
This sounds absolutely fascinating. I"m really looking forward to read them.
-Medea
Rose Metal makes beautiful books!
swell thoughts to you all, my pretties