Announcement: New Chapbook Release

Abby’s second chapbook was just published in early May by Plan B Press. You can order your copy through their website by clicking here or following the link below.

https://www.planbpress.com/store/p77/Palm_Up%2C_Fingers_Curled_by_Abby_N._Lewis.html

Palm Up, Fingers Curled explores the tenuous–and dangerous–transition from innocent young girl to sexualized teenager. The title poem, “Palm Up, Fingers Curled,” which the cover is based on, describes the young female narrator sitting down at a table with her father and grandfather on her grandfather’s back porch, unknowingly entering a conversation about the brutal kidnapping of a young woman who was recently in the news. Another poem, the first in the collection, describes an event in which the narrator comes close to becoming a missing person herself, one of the invisible women who haunt billboards, their ghosts staring out of faded, wrinkled fliers.

The chapbook contains lighter poems as well, such as “The Flood,” which depicts three sisters enjoying a mild flood that only reaches to the edges of the lake houses in their neighborhood. It is a tame flood that does not represent a disaster but a Ponyo-style wedding of water and land. “0.6 inches,” another poem, explores the responsibility in owning pets, and the ways in which owners must make critical, difficult decisions for the well-being of their domesticated friends.

Chapbooks are small, short collections of poetry, often only 15-30 pages in length. They were designed to be bite-sized, allowing someone to read the entire book in one sitting. Chapbooks are excellent avenues for up and coming poets to advertise their work and provide a sample of their writing. Most bookstores do not carry chapbooks, as they are not a part of traditional publishing. Many are stable bound or hand-sewn, and some lack ISBNs, but they are all original works that the poet has invested a lot of time and energy into writing and producing. Small presses like Plan B Press help poets in this endeavor, and they are greatly appreciated.

Readers are also invaluable to the process. Writing is a act done in solitude, but most writers would not enjoy their profession if they did not have an audience and readership. I hope you consider ordering a copy of Palm Up, Fingers Curled, and I encourage you to leave your thoughts online if you’ve read it. You can interact with other readers through Goodreads.

Here is the link to the Goodreads review page for Palm Up, Fingers Curled: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/150234854-palm-up-fingers-curled?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=7e6lDAvCdh&rank=1