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The chapbook 309.81 by Rachel Mallino was published by dancing girl press, a small press that describes itself as an indie publisher with a goal “to publish and promote the work of women poets through chapbooks, journals, and anthologies” that “bridges the gaps between schools and poetic technique – work that’s fresh, innovative, and exciting.” The first thing I did when I received the chapbook in the mail was look for Mallino’s bio. I love author bios and author pics because they tend to show you something more about the author: how they view themselves and how they wanted you to see them. There wasn’t one. I wanted to know more about Mallino so I googled her. She popped up on a blog about tattooed poets where she shared the vine tattoo that wraps around her foot. She claims it represents the unhealthy relationship she has with her mother. This relationship is fodder for the first two sections of 309.81.

309.81 is broken into four sections. The first section titled ‘In This House’ opens with this quote from Thoreau: “Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed by them.” Each of the nine poems in this section addresses the odds and ends of our houses, like berber carpet, nail-polish & notebooks, and strands of hair, but their ordinariness is tortured by the harsh realities of this mother and this daughter. The second section is titled ‘To Be Fifteen Again’ and contains a series of poems that a numbered and series that, if you put all the titles together, you get the phrase ‘Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.’ This black humor surfaces throughout Mallino’s work, adding even more depth to the pieces.

Throughout all the poems, Mallino’s word choice is pure perfection. One of my favorite things about reading poetry is feeling the way the words writers choose roll around in my mouth. Mallino is sensory delight with lines like “I sniffed out the screwdriver / and ruptured that lock like any good scab” and “to have linoleum thin hair – a finger’s runway.” I found myself reading lines over and over again just to feel how they sounded, ones like “how z in Elizabeth / cuts right through the name’s soft tissue” and “this house is a comfortable chemical” and “maybe the bile / is my good Easter dress.” Simply fantastic.

These poems may center on the affects of a teenaged relationship between a mother and a daughter, but no teen angst will be found within these pages. Mallino’s words are visceral, and my ears were heavy with the weight to the all-too-real relationship that readers are forced into, the relationship between this mother and this daughter and medication and the frenzy of new life.

With this publication, dancing girl press has succeeded. 309.81 is like raw concrete you’ve fallen and scrapped your knee on. It opens you up so you feel the blood pumping inside. And later, you’ll realize you’re still tugging on the scar it left long after it’s healed.

The day I got “I Ain’t Asked Any Pardon For Anything I Done”—a chapbook written by Sasha Fletcher and published by Greying Ghost Press—in the mail, I waited until I was sitting comfortably on my couch before I opened it. Good thing, too—because suddenly, I was sitting in a sea of tiny bits of paper. Turned upside-down, the packing envelope rained sheets of found paper, mini-books, medallions but out of old books, and even a “Greying Ghost” pin onto my lap. So before I even cracked the cover of “I Ain’t Asked Any Pardon,” its presentation had me hooked. I wanted more.

I was not disappointed. In terms of its content, “I Ain’t Asked Any Pardon” chronicles the dissolution—and possible resolution (?)—of a relationship. Before you dismiss this as the standard fare, let me assure you haven’t seen a couple’s relationship explored quite like this before. It mixes the mundane (“When she woke up she put the coffee on”) with the absurd (“She unraveled a crow like a clementine…”) with the grotesque (“…and cooked the flesh in its mouth). Certain motifs become more and more apparent as the collection goes on: teeth, buzzards, trains, fire, bandits. As you trace them through the pages, you’re able to piece together a sense of what they might mean.

Overall, the chapbook provides a rather desolate and disturbing look at companionship. The whole thing is set in a desert—dry expanses of space, vast plains of hot heavy sand. Buzzards are always swarming overhead, waiting to feast on the kill. Vicious fires erupt and burn indiscriminately. It’s a bleak look at the monotony and boredom a relationship can take on, punctuated by harsh fires and fights that start “licking at that dry air.”

The poems in the collection work together to provide a cohesive and satisfying reading experience. Certain poem series work up to a fervor—especially the “Great Train Robberies” series—that provide you with distinct threads to hold onto. Amidst the fantastical imagery, these poem threads give you something with which to pull yourself through the collection, a string to trace your journey with. Through the fevered pitch of fire and buzzards and dry sands, the distinct sets of poems keep you anchored in the narrative.

“I Ain’t Asked Any Pardon” is the perfect length to be read all at once. You can sit down with it, read it from start to finish, and leave it feeling both fulfilled and wanting more. It’s a collection that merits multiple readings, with each reading leaving you feeling like you understand it a little more—and a little less. The collection is at once manageable and complex. I highly recommend it—from aesthetics to content, Sasha Fletcher delivers in her new collection “I Ain’t Asked Any Pardon For Anything I Done.”

The chapbook I chose to buy came from Dancing Girl Press. It is Elective Affinities by Kara Dorris. When I first found this book, I had never heard of the author and knew nothing about her writing style. I just thought that the cover looked interesting. After I received the chapbook and read it, I really enjoyed her writing and what she did with this work. It is a book giving new spins to fairytales. She has some pieces such as “To Fairytales” and “ Some Notes on Why the Color had to be Red.” These pieces span from Little Red Riding Hood to Snow White. Throughout these pieces of childhood, she throws in little 3 or 4 line pieces that tie into the larger pieces but are little pieces of gold to keep the reader interested.

The longest piece is the namesake of the book. It is 8 pieces that is like a fairytale in itself. Kara Dorris writes about fairytales and writes one of her own. It has love and mystery and magic, which is what all people love from the stories they heard as children. Kara Dorris brings reality into the imagination of childhood and still keeps the fairytale alive.

She finishes the book with “A Spell” which is how she interprets what happens when spells are made and used. “Dandelion germs, candlewick, toes & flour. The blood that turns the rest to liquid, an incanted language, the skin.”  She brings out all the feelings that one would feel hearing a spell in the story. The feeling that something exciting is going to happen. Kara Dorris brings this out in her book with a passion for the fairytales that brings the reader in and reminds them of childhood. She gives adults an excuse to reach back into their hearts to remember what it felt like being a child but brings out how an adult would feel now, cautioning the damsel in distress to not eat the apple. TO caution the girl with the red cape to not go to her grandmothers house that day. Kara Dorris brings this out of the reader in a magical way that gives an excuse for letting go and letting the stories bring them to a forest with a headsman giving them pardon and a reason to survive.

Trisia Eddy’s “Edith and Aurelia: A Romantic Tragedy in Five Acts” intrigues you before you even turn the first page. On the cover is a young woman sprawling very un-ladylike in a high back Victorian chair, one leg resting over the arm. Her black thigh-high tights, white garter, black patent shoes, and a white corset are the only things covering her body other than a delicate choker necklace resting on her collarbone. Her dark curly hair is in a fashionable 20’s bob.

This woman, clearly defying any standards of “decency”, brought to my mind a time when women were restricted in areas of all respects: society, education, profession, etc. I was reminded of a time when showing a little bit of your leg was considered risqué. I was reminded of a time when women found that being treated like a lady also meant being treated like a “lady”: someone who was known only by her husband’s name and was meant to be seen, not heard. I was reminded of a time when women started to defy that role in society and started to take risks, to make their impression.

The chapbook of poetry is split into the format of a play: Act I, Scene i, and so on. It is also prefaced with a quote from Macbeth: “These deeds must not be thought/ After these ways; so, it will make us mad” (Act II, Scene ii). This framing of the poetry automatically sets your mind back to a time and place of propriety and richness. This is what you expect upon opening this book of poetry; something along the lines of a Shakespearean play equipped with old English and such. However, Trisia Eddy defies these expectations of times past and drops you into the middle, or the end, of a long life of two women who have been carrying on a romantic relationship.

Edith and Aurelia, the main characters, are past the prime of their lives and are now looking back. Looking back at a time when their bodies were sensual and not stiff with age. You follow along with the characters as they begin in the summer, then on to autumn, and then the winter, before they end at the cusp of spring. You follow them as they move from their home into a nursing home, despite Edith’s distaste of the place. I am still uncertain whether Aurelia moved there as well, as I am also uncertain of the amount of love Aurelia had for Edith. Nevertheless, love is felt and instead of the warm, gushy, romantic thoughts that usually come about at the first utterance of the word “love”, you are met with a sad tale of inescapable time and desires.

Trisia Eddy’s writing is extremely sensory. The entire fifteen pages are packed with succulent images such as: “the deep purple-galaxy of blackberry stain”. She does a marvelous job presenting her story of love and lost time in such a short amount of space. I set the book down feeling sad but happy that I got to be a part of this love affair, or “romantic tragedy”.

The chapbook was printed by Dancing Girl Press, a press dedicated to printing only the work of women poets. This exclusionary act was originally what drew me to their website and I was thrilled to see women writers honored and promoted so enthusiastically. I was further thrilled to find that this chapbook, not only written by a female, was only concerning females. It was an interesting experience, to indulge in this world without male touches.

–Sarah Jennings

Edith and Aurelia: A Romantic Tragedy in Five Acts is a recent release by Trisia Eddy from Dancing Girl Press. DGP is a self-proclaimed indie publisher that aims to promote women poets. While browsing their website, the beautifully rendered cover art of this chapbook drew my initial attention; however, it was the excerpt, Act III, Scene i. An excavation site. that held my interest. The thought of prose poetry combined with elements of playwriting intrigued me, and as I sat down to read Edith and Aurelia, I happily found that my expectations were not disappointed.

The style of the chapbook is refreshingly unique: prose poems are titled as though they are parts of a play. The “Romantic Tragedy” of the chapbook is evident through both the inner musings of the characters and the way we view the world through their eyes. The writer seamlessly blends the beauty of all three styles: the simplicity of prose, the delicacy of poetry, and the directness of playwriting are all present throughout. Small snippets and phrases from Shakespeare’s Macbeth float in and out of the pages, adding to the tragic effect of the writer’s own poetry.

An air of nostalgia is present throughout Edith and Aurelia, from its vintage, photographed cover to its poems, which recall memories of childhood and past love. In her chapbook, poet Trisia Eddy avoids the common misstep of viewing the past through rose-colored glasses. Her poems are carefully written to not only convey the sentimental nature of nostalgia, but to also remind us of the pain that stems from old memories, even the happier ones.

“Regret makes no secret of itself, wafts openly through” this chapbook. Edith and Aurelia reads like the retelling of a painful memory, complete with the thoughts that flit in and out of the characters’ heads and the hyper-awareness of the smallest details one feels when the world slows down in these moments. I found it impossible to finish the book without longing for some bygone day – therein lies the beauty of Edith and Aurelia. This chapbook has the power to speak to each reader differently, drawing on past and personal experiences to create a unique read for everyone. Though the plot surrounds two women going through the frustrations of change and goodbyes, its greater themes of nostalgia and regret will easily resonate within anyone.

–Nadia Barksdale

Edith and Aurelia is available through the DGP Chapbook Series at www.dancinggirlpress.com.