La Belle Ajar

Sylvia Plath once said, “I want someone to mouth me.” La Belle Ajar is a collection of poems inspired by Plath’s 1963 novel that reimagines the journey of Esther Greenwood within the empowering odyssey of these 20 scintillating cento poems that honor the voice and legacy of America’s most influential modern poet and author: Sylvia Plath.
La Belle Ajar was selected in Luna Luna Magazine's ‘Top 5 Books to watch out for in 2020’
"La Belle Ajar is a beautiful collaboration between the dead and the living, the muse and the inspired, and a reminder to continue the conversations with the poets who came before us; Cepeda finds the magic of Plath and delicately constructs her enchantment, an enlivening book of poems you will return to reread again and again."
—Kelli Russell Agodon, Editor at Two Sylvias Press and author of Dialogues with Rising Tides (Copper Canyon Press)
"Adrian Ernesto Cepeda’s new book La Belle Ajar opens up Sylvia Plath’s words and gives them new life, Lovers of Plath and those looking for a book to captivate in the thick honey of self-discovery don’t want to miss this release from CLASH Books."
—Tianna G. Hansen, Editor-in-Chief of Rhythm & Bones Press
"Plath’s eternal essence — her poetry of confessions, rife with details and darknesses — is woven throughout this La Belle Ajar. The drama, the particulars, and an unlimited glimmering of language oozes in each and every poem. The ghost of Plath seems to be conjured, to find reanimation, in Cepeda’s many inspirations. And while Plath is the muse here, of course, the work stands entirely on its own — unexpected, surreal, and alight. A true tribute, emerging into its own new shape."
—Lisa Marie Basile, poet, editor of Luna Luna, and author of The Magical Writing Grimoire
"Adrian Ernesto Cepeda’s sensual, electric internal rhythms provoke external, communal ones too. And La Belle Ajar is not just an exercise in homage but a choreographed remix, a translation, a correspondence between words and worlds. Cepeda leaves the door open, in pursuit of readerly access and inspiration. This work vibrates."
—Chris Campanioni, Editor PANK Magazine and author of The Internet is for Real
"Adrian Ernesto Cepeda’s LA BELLE AJAR is delightful, thought-provoking, and compelling. The lines are both conversational and fierce, lulling us into submission, and then chilling us to the bone at the same time: “she burst /out, I never said, I’m not/godlike.” Cepeda takes Plath, and digs in deep to her life, her struggles, her being, while inhabiting the world as it is now, while conveying the very strangeness of being at all: “I looked empty and subdued,/among the Gillett blades/paper scraps it occurred to/me, I must be idly dead.” This book is meant to be read and loved, with all its complexities, much like a human.”"
—Joanna C. Valente, author of Marys of the Sea, #Survivor, and editor of A Shadow Map: Writing by Survivors of Sexual Assault