All the Wayward Angels: Dream Sestinas, by Tara Campbell

Poetry, chapbook, 40 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Within these pages lies a world in which stars snarl, candles sob, and foxes build temples to their unfathomable gods. Have you ever wanted to follow the pull of a golden key toward a treasure under the sea? In these sixteen sestinas, Campbell creates a swirling dreamworld of falling angels, rough beasts, and women “using hope to dowse for rain.”

Yes, there is darkness in this world: skeletons emerge in dark barns, ghosts swirl amidst dismal laughter in sad places. But there is also hope: women liberate themselves through transformation, peaceful hands reject pistols in favor of flowers, and an angel reminds us “we wreck/our hearts when we forget to love their wounds.” Dive in and learn why the wayward angels went astray.

Tara Campbell is an award-winning writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, fiction co-editor at Barrelhouse, and graduate of American University’s MFA in Creative Writing. Publication credits include Masters Review, Wigleaf, Electric Literature, CRAFT Literary, Uncharted Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, and Escape Pod/Artemis Rising. She’s the author of the eco sci-fi novel TreeVolution, two hybrid collections of poetry and prose, and two short story collections from feminist sci-fi publisher Aqueduct Press. Her sixth book, City of Dancing Gargoyles (SFWP), was a finalist for the 2025 Philip K. Dick Award, in Reactor Magazine’s “Best Books of 2024,” and on Locus and SFWA’s recommended reading lists. She’s taught creative writing at venues such as Johns Hopkins University, American University, Clarion West, The Writer’s Center, and Hugo House. Find her at www.taracampbell.com