It’s Publication Day for Shapeshifter!

Grab a copy of L.E. Bowman’s book.

ABOUT THE BOOK

L.E. Bowman’s latest collection Shapeshifter aches with the soft sorrows and hard-won joys of life.

Melodic and introspective, Bowman’s poems converse–struggling with grief and hopelessness while fighting for love and recovery. Shapeshifter grounds the reader in the body, ever transforming with age and experience. Reckoning with self-image, heartbreak, and motherhood, this collection emphasizes the beauty in mundanity–the journey that is life.

Embracing the fear of an ever-changing and vulnerable existence, while encouraging the reader to live in spite and because of that fear, Shapeshifter is a searing work that cannot be missed!

ABOUT BOWMAN

Lauren E. Bowman is the author of three poetry collections, The Evolution of a Girl (Black Castle Media Group), What I Learned from the Trees (Button Poetry), and her latest, Shapeshifter (Button Poetry).

Lauren’s work often delves into the intricate relationship between humans and nature, and how these often overlooked, everyday interactions affect us as individuals, families, and communities. She also focuses heavily on all facets of womanhood, including the shifting roles and definitions that we face as we change and age.

Being a fulltime working mother and a parttime writer, Lauren pulls much of her inspiration from the capricious lives we tackle every day. Through sharing her own struggles with relationships and self-acceptance, she seeks to encourage others to learn from and rise above their own difficulties and doubts, and to find a place of reflection, empowerment, and growth.

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It’s Publication Day for before & after our bodies!

Grab a copy of Phil SaintDenisSanchez’s book.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Phil SaintDenisSanchez’s debut collection before & after our bodies tackles complex familial history and struggles, emerging in the rich backdrop of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Through multilayered language and immersive imagery, SaintDenisSanchez interweaves political and social issues–from the lasting impacts of colonialism to environmental disaster–with intensely personal narratives of love, learning, and loss. The long, lyrical form and enrapturing poetic voice draw you in and refuse to let you go.

before & after our bodies maps a stunningly poignant family tree and gets at the root of the social forces that shaped its growth.

ABOUT PHIL

Phil SaintDenisSanchez is a poet from New Orleans. His work has appeared in Best New Poets, Poetry International, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. His poem “monarchs are the communication medium for when i die” was a finalist for Poetry International’s C.P. Cavafy Prize and his chapbook “watch out for falling bullets” was a finalist for The Atlas Review’s and Button Poetry’s chapbook contests, and a notable manuscript for BOAAT’s chapbook contest. A semifinalist for the 2020 Discovery Prize, he has received scholarships to attend Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and presented at AWP on creating collaborations between poetry and music. His debut collection, self-portrait before & after my body, is forthcoming on Button Poetry. He studied music theory and composition at The City College of New York, records under the name SaintDenisSanchez, and currently lives in Brooklyn.

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It’s Publication Day for Smut Psalm!

Grab a copy of Josh Tvrdy’s book.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Winner of Button Poetry’s 2023 Chapbook Contest, Josh Tvrdy’s Smut Psalm is a queer coming-of-age, equally drenched in religious guilt and eroticism.

Smut Psalm’s poems reckon with self-discovery and sexual curiosity–interspersed with “Church Board Interrogation” interludes, which act as a dialogue between a homophobic church voice and a witty, increasingly defiant poetic speaker. Altogether, Tvrdy crafts an intimate, surreal spectacle. Smut Psalm shapes the raw messiness of queer adolescence into its own kind of holiness. Charming and intoxicating, Tvrdy’s Smut Psalm is a strange, sinewy experience that can’t be missed.

ABOUT JOSH

Josh Tvrdy (he/him) is a writer, editor, and teacher from Tucson, Arizona. He recently graduated from North Carolina State University with an MFA in Poetry. Winner of a 2021 Pushcart Prize and Gulf Coast’s 2018 Prize in Poetry, his work can be found in POETRY, New England Review, Image Journal, The Georgia Review and elsewhere. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, hard at work on his first novel.

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It’s Publication Day for About Time!

Grab a copy of Neil Hilborn’s newest collection.

We have limited SIGNED copies still available!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Neil Hilborn returns with the poignant and profound collection About Time. Balancing between devastation and perseverance, About Time shares the struggle to maintain mental health during the recent global crises.

With his distinctly conversational tone and dark humor, Hilborn breaks down the cycle of mental illness—small improvements, setbacks, and the process of recovery. This collection fights against itself as the poems try to find a place for hope, love, and goodness in a lonely, terrifying world—ultimately, inspiring belief in and connection to all the small joys that we can find.

Fans new and old will be stunned by Hilborn’s third collection. Continuing in the legacy of his previous works, About Time is hot soup for the troubled soul and absolutely cannot be missed.

ABOUT NEIL

Neil Hilborn is a best-selling author and, with over 150 million views to his credit, he is the most-watched poet ever. He has performed in 41 states and 8 countries, and in 2019 alone he drove coast to coast five times while on tour. His favorite touring moments are: crying while meeting a wombat in Australia; spending two weeks in Edinburgh at the Fringe Festival; meeting Dionne Warwick at the Smithsonian; and putting 12,000 miles on a minivan in two months with his fellow road goblin Mark. His favorite sandwiches come from: Primanti Bros in Pittsburgh, Black’s BBQ in Austin, one specific Publix in Tampa, and a torta truck he found while stranded in Pasco, Washington. One time on stage he accidentally punched the microphone and broke his wedding ring, and thanks to years of therapy he did not interpret this as a sign. His preferred stage entrance music is “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen, during which he walks very slowly. In addition to touring and writing he runs workshops on craft, performance, and how to apologize for ignoring texts. He and his wife live on a hobby farm outside Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where they adopt too many animals.

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It’s Publication Day for The Rent Eats First!

Grab a copy of Eric Sirota’s collection.

We have limited SIGNED copies still available!

ABOUT THE BOOK

With a captivating blend of serious urgency and sarcastic wit, The Rent EATS First moves through personal stories and cultural moments to develop a broad picture of systemic inequality. Sirota interweaves his personal experiences as a public interest lawyer, representing low income tenants, with biting critique on the broader social and governmental systems that breed disparities. This collection reminds us that the political is emotional as Sirota shares personal struggles with mental health, self-image, and relationships in the face of social crisis.

Through dynamic and poignant form, Sirota conveys the chaos of an ineffectual, discriminatory system. An earnest look at the difficulties of fighting a system from within, The Rent EATS First is a collection that needs to be read.

PRAISE FOR ERIC

The Rent Eats First is a courthouse diorama with unfettered self-awareness—what if foreclosure comes for more than just the home? We are told “the only difference between a sword and a plowshare is what you’re cutting.” Sirota inhabits several voices, each a blade—where are we aimed, what is aimed at us?

—Junious ‘Jay’ Ward, Composition

In The Rent Eats First, everyone must stand trial. Sins do not discriminate; even god must atone. Sirota balances commentary on housing law and political unrest with comedy. The Rent Eats First is a demonstration against landlords, property value, and the legal system.

—jason b. crawford, Year of the Unicorn Kidz

All rise for The Rent Eats First. Sirota breaks down the language of law and reforges it into a revolutionary manifesto. Satirical and absurd, Sirota’s poems are blades. Every page, he sharpens a new one and hands it to you. If these poems don’t get you psyched to smash capitalism, I don’t know what will.

—Zach Goldberg, I’d Rather Be Destroyed

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It’s Publication Day for I’d Rather Be Destroyed!

Grab a copy of Zach Goldberg’s collection.

We have limited SIGNED copies still available!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Earnest and darkly funny, this collection rebuilds the self from its broken pieces. Playing with dynamic and experimental forms, Goldberg explores modern Jewish identity, familial and cultural inheritances, and managing mental health. Its historical and religious allusions navigate modern and personal conversations, reflecting how we embrace and reject the legacies that shape us. Sharp and captivating, I’d Rather Be Destroyed’s honesty and artistry make it a must-read.

PRAISE FOR ZACH

Zach Goldberg writes like an inventor, making the page his play ground. I’d Rather Be Destroyed is as brilliant as it is easeful. Each page is a home we are invited into. Each line is a table we sit down at, grateful.

—Andrea Gibson, You Better Be Lightning

Dexterous and innovative, Goldberg’s poems traverse between intimate struggles to geopolitical conflicts. Moving from aching present to past and back again, these poems reach towards the possibility of healing, inviting us to reach for “Home, the place you leave / to find.” A beautiful debut!

—Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach, 40 Weeks

I’d Rather Be Destroyed is an intricate map shepherding its reader into possibilities of home. Goldberg shows us that diaspora can be a nesting doll of ghosts, that correlations and revelations share a piercing proximity; a split-atom I understand more through its blaze.

—Junious ‘Jay’ Ward, Composition

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