As I write this, I am struck by the irony. Any writer or editor who has ever worked with me knows that I am not a fan of Author’s Notes or writer-written Introductions. I am a selfish reader of poetry and prose. I vastly prefer to experience the language for myself, with no set expectations or careful author guidance. I want to discover a piece’s secrets and meaning for myself. To find its resonance and meaning to me. Poetry is deeply subjective. What the writer intends is important, but how it speaks to me as a reader and resonates with my own experience is where its real value lies.
My brilliant friend and editor Candice Louisa Daquin has been gently encouraging me to put out a third collection of poetry and prose for several years. The first couple of times she brought up the idea, I pretended I didn’t hear her, hoping she would forget about it. Most of my creative energy has been devoted to editing, publishing, and promoting other people’s work since Indie Blu(e) Publishing launched in 2018. My identity as a writer with something interesting or valuable to say felt very remote.
In the summer of 2023, Candice reminded me a little less gently that I should put out another book. I grumbled a bit more but decided to humor her and revisit my newer writing. It wasn’t a bad body of work, but it didn’t quite seem to add up to a book that excited me creatively or have the cohesion that my previous two collections did.
And then I had an idea. One of those ideas. What if I took this handful of standalone poems and prose and combined them somehow with some of the writing collaborations I had done over the years with other creatives? These duets, larger collaborations, and call and response pieces have always been near and dear to my heart, but they had never been published in print before.
Maybe, I thought, there is a larger story here to tell.
I started digging through my writing files and all the WordPress blogs I have co-curated since 2016. A lost long weekend later, I had a 240-page first draft of a manuscript entitled Darker Objects that wove my standalone writing with poetry and prose from 42 (!!) other mad-talented writers. Forty-two writers who had been willing to join their voice to mine in some way. This was a manuscript that excited me creatively. This was the manuscript that told a larger story.
Each of these collaborations has its own background story. Some started with a single thought-provoking stanza, such as ‘Recombinant Selves’ and ‘Unheard Incantations’ that I simply didn’t know what to do with. Others are call and responses, such as ‘A Response to a Poet’s Love Song’, a piece written by Steven Fuller after his first stumble onto my blog, Brave and Reckless, that has led to a deep and abiding friendship and writing partnership. Although Steve and I have dramatically different writing styles, many of the pieces we have written over the years are so seamless that we no longer can recall which of us wrote each line or stanza.
Many of the pieces in the ‘American Gothic’ section were inspired by themed writing prompts that I posted online to inspire other creatives. ‘I Am the Woman’ was such a prompt that led to many stunning standalone pieces. ‘Careless Whisper’ (George Michael), ‘Back to Black’ (Amy Winehouse), and ‘A Room So Still and Silent’ (Chester Bennington) are heartfelt tribute pieces to lives lost far too soon.
Kindra M. Austin’s raw, fierce, and authentic ‘I Knew My Worth’ inspired an organic avalanche of response pieces when it first appeared on WordPress, resulting in some of the finest and most incisive writing I have ever read. Anthems such as ‘We Cannot Look Away’, ‘With Clenched Fists, I Rage’, ‘Nevertheless, She Persisted’, ‘Testify’, and ‘The Color of Our Rights’ were written fast and furiously in the moment, as we reflected on the world unfolding around us.
I simply do not like to rage or grieve alone.
Darker Objects felt somehow unfinished without visual art to either reflect (or refract) the powerful, unapologetic writing. All the writers involved with the book were invited to collaborate on the visual art. I also reached out to brilliant young embroidery artist Jharna Choudhury, my sister in floss, as well as mixed-media artist Georgianna Grentzenberg, a dear friend whose art pieces are scattered around my house, and photographer Elijah R. Carney. I have been avidly following Elijah’s journey as a photographer since he first held a camera. Even at eleven, my oldest had a great eye.
We are unique creatives with 46 distinct styles, with 46 different life experiences. We live in 7 different countries. We are different genders, sexual orientations, races, and ethnicities. Our ages range from our 20’s to our 70’s. But in Darker Objects we are united in our passion, our rage, and our grief. We are united in our creativity and in our shared humanity.
We are unique.
We are united.
May you find meaning and resonance for yourself within these pages.
Darker Objects is available for purchase through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Kobo, and other major online book retailers.
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