A Reading, by Shelley Lloyd

Prose, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

A Reading blends personal narrative with philosophical musings on time, displacement, and identity. The essays reflect on how time stretches and fractures in moments of crisis and stillness, and delve into themes of disability, the act of writing, and how both can serve as forms of resistance and survival in times of profound uncertainty. The work also contemplates how personal experience intersects with larger existential and social questions, exploring the ways in which we process and make meaning in the face of instability.

This chapbook invites readers into a space where the tension between vulnerability and resilience becomes a fertile ground for reflection and self discovery. It explores a transformative two-month period in the spring of 2024, during which the author faced unemployment, the threat of homelessness, and the decision to take a cross country trip to see their favorite band perform.

Shelley Lloyd (she/they) is a writer and scholar with a PhD in Rhetoric from Clemson University—because why not spend years of your life earning a degree to talk about language for a living? Originally from Florida, they write creative nonfiction that combines personal musings with theoretical rambling, often exploring themes of disability, time, and why everything feels a little bit off. When not overthinking life, they can be found avoiding their responsibilities, contemplating the absurd, and hanging out with their cat, who, unsurprisingly, is much better at managing their time.