Abecedarium of Want, by Caroline Grand-Clement

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Abecedarium of Want is a struggle against & between desire & guilt. Caroline Grand-Clement takes the reader beyond the realm of memory into that of imagination—if you can only keep up with which is which. She takes a fixed chronological form to tell a story & asks whether every story has to be a lie. She takes hunger & points it out in every sentence, every word, every letter.

These poems come alive & transform into dark creatures that only resemble shadow. They sharpen their teeth on knives so they can offer you their best smiles. They are both hunter & haunted. These poems are asking to settle the scores & inviting you to fight—but they’re also bleeding on your doorstep & begging you to open.

This collection is a single question: “would you dare?”

Caroline Grand-Clement is a queer artist studying English & Scandinavian literature. She is the author of sun of daedalus / song of anticlea (perhappened press, 2021), and The Coward / The Liar / The Thief (Selcouth Station Press, 2021). She is probably busy scanning the sky for birds. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, or Patreon @octopodeshearts.