Diagnosis. My New Chapbook from {dancing girl press & studio}

I am so pleased that my new chapbook, Diagnosis, is now available from {dancing girl press & studio}. I am indeed happy and grateful that Kristy Bowen chose it in the first place. I know a few of my friends have already ordered a copy and I hope more will. Let me tell you something about how the poems of this chapbook came to me. The original poem, which is also the one that gives the name to the chapbook, revolves around the idea that being "diagnosed" with poetry can be a lacerating experience. Writing about the hare in this poem made the whole difference. Indeed, when picking up my collection of poems by Sylvia Plath just a few days later and leafing through its pages, I ended up reading her poem "Totem." It was then that I found the path I was looking for. The following lines struck a chord deep within me:

"In the bowl the hare is aborted,

Its baby head out of the way, embalmed in spice,

Flayed of fur and humanity,

Let us eat it like Plato's afterbirth,

Let us eat it like Christ."

I distinctly remember heading to my writing desk immediately after reading these lines and writing the remaining eight poems of the chapbook in one sitting. Plath's poem was truly the epiphany I had been looking for. I suddenly understood why the hare was my totem animal guiding me through the poems of this chapbook. I hope you too might be curious to follow the hare and see where it will lead you. 

Hop hop! And, thank you.