Hex of Steel, by Charlie Stuip

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

This chapbook collects poems from two years of loitering in hot, dirty cities looking for kicks. Instead, Stuip found the sensitivity and force within every creature, from a dying kitten to a disappointing lover. These poems-bodily, confrontational, irreverent-demand you to surrender to how much you care, to “throw the gauntlet down with a skid mark squealing end-it-all barre chord.”

Hex of Steel covers having a little sister, casual sex, Point Break, breaking and entering, apocalypse, grandpas, biking in LA, among other things. Its sonic, rollicking style is inspired by literary idols such as Joyelle McSweeney, Lou Reed and Wanda Coleman.

Charlie Stuip is a writer and cook living in Los Angeles. She has written poems since preschool and is now published in WORMS Magazine, Grotto Journal, Midcult and more.