Bücher veröffentlicht von Querencia Press, LLC

"Whatever else it may be, poetry is foremost a witnessing, and D. Dina Friedman is our conscience and guide as she transports us to the border-physically and poetically-so we can better understand the pain and struggle that keeps "the machinery of the world running," and what drives a person to become so desperate that "he might send his daughter over the bridge alone to face the guards." How is it that we have become "people who love each other / hating the people across the river, who love each other." In deceptively plain-spoken language that reaches deep into what it means to be human, Dina uses her words to sharpen our senses and focus our attention. But if we listen closely, we will also find a necessary courage in "a child's pair of striped overalls hanging on barbed wires," or even in "a makeshift tent / called school," where hope hides in every heart "soft as the young cat / stretched luxurious across the bed," or a "puff / of milkweed riding the wave of the wind." Dina's words burst forth like a "bashful baby suddenly smiling." She teaches us, with humor, horror, love, and concentration what it means to truly see and listen to those in need. Here in Sanctuary-Whirling is a beautiful and important book of poetry." -Richard Michelson, National Jewish Book Award Winner, author of Sleeping As Fast As I Can "D. Dina Friedman's revelatory book captures the essence of what it means to be and remain human in times of tyranny. This book is a meditation tool for both seeker and cynic." -Magdalena Gómez, Poet Laureate of Springfield, MA (2019-2022); author of Mi'ja, a memoir noir

Querencia Press's Winter 2024 anthology features 46 contributors of Poetry, Fiction, & Non-fiction work. Themes of the collection vary widely and the editor would like to include content warnings for self-harm, addiction, grief, domestic violence, religious trauma, sexual trauma, gender dysphoria and politics, as well as some blood and body horror.*Edited by Emily Perkovich

Winner of the Heartland Review Chapbook contest, finalist in the Wolfson Press Chapbook Competition & Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Contest, semi-finalist for Yellow Arrow Publishing's Chapbook Contest, shortlisted for Galileo Press Chapbook contest, & longlisted for The Rachel Wetzseon Chapbook Award"...a portrait of slow muting, of unfeeling and haunt. Each small vignette is a window into a life of macabre observation, quiet apathy, numbed survival and rage, dotted with moments of tenderness."-Kai Coggin, author of Mining for Stardust, Incandescent, and Wingspan"With Vanishing Below the Waist, Ellie White eloquently gives voice to frequently silenced medical conditions that can be faced by people with vaginas, such as dyspareunia, vulvodynia, and endometrioma. Vanishing Below the Waist provides a brave and unflinching portrayal of living in a body that's riddled with question. These poems defy patriarchally constructed notions of shame without ever feeling preachy or pedantic. With elegant lyricism and spellbinding imagery, White's poems dazzle as much as they rage; they glitter and burn, sing pretty and haunt."-Stevie Edwards, author of Quiet Armor

The Un-Inquired is the confession of refugees, families, and lovers who have no right to love. It chronicles the stories of those who are struggling to find their voice in society and discover themselves, recollecting their trauma and memories, from the loss of a foster brother in a shooting incident to the hallucinations of a Japanese American immigrant with schizophrenia. An antiheroic tale of finding a way to survive in a world, the collection is at times emotional and tender, at times melancholy, lonely, and wryly introspective.

"vermilion is a stunning multilingual and multidimensional piece of poetic artwork. This is a spiritual song of motherhood, creation, and dreaming in Cree-Métis. I look forward to sharing this book with all my kin interested in teaching or reading a story that is both accessible and wonderfully mysterious that we could come back to again and again, with each time harnessing a new understanding." -Kaitlyn Purcell, author of ¿bédayine

"The Magpie Funeral is a story of seeking: family, culture, but most of all, understanding-to understand others, and to be understood. The characters that make up Adam Galanski's tender-hearted, quiet novella find themselves attempting to communicate to one another, but because of their language and cultural barriers, well-meaning is often lost, creating rifts instead of bonds. So, it is in the suspended moments of silence-while harvesting mushrooms, cooking a meal-that an American-born writer and his Polish grandfather are able to connect in the Carpathian forest. Galanski has managed a sweeping family lore in an intimate space, cultivating authentic and arresting imagery that grounded me in this cherished, hallowed land, and I deeply admire Galanski's ability to write a book that reads folkloric within its modernity. The Magpie Funeral is a poignant lament that stirs the heart-it's my favorite type of story: one of complexity, compassion, and catastrophic ache."-Kalani Pickhart, author of I Will Die in a Foreign Land

Being the eldest daughter is similar to the Final Girl in a slasher movie; everyone has to die for you to survive. But I don't feel like the Final Girl. Not when it's my blood on the knife.

Proof of the Sun chronicles the long term effects of childhood sexual abuse by a family member that can, and often do, extend into adulthood. These stanzas mirror the ways society tiptoes around what happens after abuse and how the victim survives.

Robin Williams, author of GIRL. returns to tell their story of the things that almost broke them in this raw and vulnerable collection. The Edge of Hope brings you through a journey of hurt, pain, betrayal, grief, and anger to the guaranteed destination of healing, self-love, forgiveness, confidence, and reflection all through a mix of modern and experimental poetry, prose, and affirmations.

Survivalism for Hedonists is a collection of poetic experiments, using digital randomisation and cut-up techniques to explore how exploding language might move us closer to representing cataclysmic life events - and how we survive them.

Querencia Press's Autumn 2023 anthology features 58 contributors of Poetry, Fiction, & Non-fiction work. Themes of the collection vary widely and the editor would like to include content warnings for self-harm, addiction, grief, domestic violence, religious trauma, sexual trauma, gender dysphoria and politics, as well as some blood and body horror.*Edited by Emily Perkovich

Domestic Bodies delves into the physicality of mundane and life-altering moments as told by a narrator disabled from birth. This collection deals with themes of cancer, family, death, disability, and resilience. Many of these poems don't end happily but leave the reader with a sense of life continuing on...regardless.

"...The collection is comprised of nineteen poems covering many aspects of the family's lives and works including those inspired by well-known anecdotes from the sisters' childhood, Branwell's troubles, Anne's death in Scarborough, Charlotte's dislike of her pupils, and a lock of Emily's beautiful hair. These poems will strike a chord with admirers and devotees of the Brontës (myself included) who like Conally-Barklem also feel a close connection with this remarkable family despite the centuries separating them. The poems capture the essence of the sisters and all we know about them as well as the enduring fascination with their words and the much-loved and magnificent works of fiction and poetry they produced and published against the odds. Conally-Barklem's collection overflows with tenderness for the Brontë family, her knowledge of their lives and works, and her own experience of being inspired by this remarkable family. If a hymn is a form of thanksgiving and a poem is the expression of feelings, the two combine in this collection to produce a beautiful, moving, and sometimes quirky lovesong to one woman's relationship and journey with those brilliant Brontës. Reader, I loved it." -Nicola Friar, author of A Tale of Two Glass Towns, editor, & blogger¿¿"Hymns from the Sisters by Emma Conally-Barklem is a captivating collection of poetry that pays homage to the Brontë sisters, delving into their lives and their profound influence on literature. Conally-Barklem's deep admiration is evident in every carefully crafted verse, offering readers a glimpse into the intertwined worlds of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë..."¿-Kate Benson, The Brontë Sisters online shop

Little Lenny knows he's a goat-the issue is, no one else in the barn seems to think so. Will he ever find the bravery to come out to his friends and make his wool coat match the bleating in his heart? Hop along with Lenny in rhymed, metered verse as he grabs life by the horns and makes his own happy ending.

On the heels of her memoir, FEVER, Niziolek's debut poetry collection, atrophy, continues pulling even further at the same threads: desire, grief, trauma, love, and illness. However, the primary beast that stalks these pages is the body in isolation, the body in decay, the body as animalistic and wounded and deadly in its pursuit of living. atrophy has all the promise of a young poet and all the grit of a grown woman who has repeatedly clawed her way through the dirt.

"Sessions of a Sandstorm takes its readers on a personal pilgrimage of struggle, awareness, and transformation. Through poignant poetic storytelling, Isaac Miebi Mendez sheds "golden flecks of light" on not only the multifaceted nature of domestic relationships but also one's community. Beyond that, his poems discuss the intricacies of masculine mental health, nationalism, migration, and navigating a pandemic. In a tumultuous, often divisive world, Sessions of a Sandstorm serves as both a safe haven and therapeutic modality for author and reader alike."-Eva Xan, Best-Selling Poetry Book Editor & Author of Esoterra"Isaac Mendez navigates the complexities of generational trauma and the weight of familial ties with unflinching honesty. With vivid imagery and piercing language, Mendez takes us on a journey through pain, loss, and ultimately, redemption. This chapbook is a testament to the power of words to heal and transform."-GRACIANO ENWEREM (Sir Grrraciano), Multiple Award-winning Poet, Serial Author & Teacher"...a visceral, visual, and culturally vivid exploration of the complexities of family dynamics, personal identity and the search for home and belonging. Through raw emotion exploring parental, personal, and political trauma, Mendez leads us on his journey of self-discovery, untangling threads of migrant heritage, mental health, the Lekki massacre, and the ever-present haunting of the Covid-19 pandemic. Beautiful, moving and inspiring, this is a stunning debut from a new voice which will move and inspire you."-Mike Morris and Madeline Heneghan, Co-Directors, Writing on the Wall"A wonderful, intelligent and compulsive collection."-Irenosen Okojie, AKO Caine Prize winner for African Writing

Querencia Press's Summer 2023 anthology features 51 contributors of Poetry, Fiction, & Non-fiction work. Themes of the collection vary widely and the editor would like to include content warnings for self-harm, addiction, grief, domestic violence, religious trauma, sexual trauma, gender dysphoria and politics, as well as some blood and body horror.*Edited by Emily Perkovich

Dear Nora is a slow and toxic descent into allowing a trauma to consume you. kinsella examines what happens when the stages of grief stagnate and are allowed to unfurl and fester into the darkest edges. this collection of addiction fueled letters leaves the writer to spin ever deeper into his own demons and self-loathing as he pins all responsibility on the woman he lost, chipping away at himself until he is only his most irredeemable parts.

TASEREDGED (watch out!) is an intimate examination of coming into queerness while navigating the struggles of a transmasc identity and trauma-induced CPTSD. The author approaches the illimitable subject of social grief and deprecation with a fresh perspective and contemporary voice.

"Kei Vough's House of Filth explores grief in its series and species. Dark events that occur through familial responsibilities as parents. Narrative of their impacts on children of the happenstance. Korede tells these "wishful thinking," "obstinate bones," "recluse of wounds," and "footage of turbulence," in the most aching, wistful, yet beautiful and poetic grandeur." -Taofeek Ayeyemi, author of Tongueless Secrets and Dust & Rust

You shouldn't play with your food at dinner, but playing with language is still on the table. In a fusion of poetry and fiction, An Absurd Palate entices the reader's appetite. The book is divided like an Italian ten-course meal, touching on themes of overt appetite and subverted expectations. Buon appetito!

"Reasons Why We're Angry is poetry as manifesto. Sophia's blistering collection is a vital voice at a time when women's rights are under attack, globally. These are poems which challenge us; Sophia beautifully captures the sense of internalized shame we have inherited from a patriarchal society, and she is unapologetic in revealing the raw truths of womanhood. But here is affirmation too: a call to action, to take that searing rage and invoke change. Littered with sharp observations and stunning imagery, Reasons Why We're Angry is a powerful and necessary collection." -Ellen Clayton, author of Home Baked

Now Let's Get Brunch: A Collection of RuPaul's Drag Race Twitter Poetry is the debut full-length collection from Alex Carrigan. The collection contains 40 cento poems created from the Twitter accounts of notable queens featured across the Drag Race television franchise. In these poems from popular queens like Trixie Mattel, Bianca Del Rio, Monet X. Change, Kim Chi, Bob the Drag Queen, Katya, and more, these poems collage statements of queer joy, toxic fandoms, LGBT+ issues, and more verses that are both humorous and blunt in their honesty.

Amidst the sprawling plains of the Midwest, a young woman walks through a cornfield to find a bus stop. A chicken-line worker becomes involved in a missing persons investigation. A small town adopts a strange new custom and a magician puts on a show. Meanwhile on the coast, hikers are going missing and something's lurking out in the woods. Routine, ritual, and habit turn against those they are meant to serve. When the familiar is called into question, there will be frogs. Tales of disappearance, self-fulfilling prophecies, and ghostly revenge weave together in You Shouldn't Worry About the Frogs.

Querencia Press's Spring 2023 anthology features 52 contributors of Poetry, Fiction, & Non-fiction work. Themes of the collection vary widely and the editor would like to include content warnings for self-harm, addiction, grief, domestic violence, religious trauma, sexual trauma, gender dysphoria and politics, as well as some blood and body horror.*Edited by Emily Perkovich

"With this rich first collection of prose poetry, Vita Lerman's contemplations on time, memory, creative process, and transformation crystalize a reality where the personal is mythical, death is a paramour, and longing is elementally human. In spare, kaleidoscopic fragments, she channels chant and mysticism, form and breath, to embody landscape, image, desire, and communion-evoking a visionary and sacred feminine. These metaphysical and allusive meditations reveal a deep yearning for rapture and transcendence, through time, beyond time. In a clear, confident voice, Playing Time in Tongues rejoices in subtlety, surprise, and wonder. A celebration."-Nina Marks author of Make Shift Sonnets