Letters, by Alison Bell Miller

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Letters is a collection of epistolary poems addressed to real people—some personal, some celebrity. In these poems Alison explores the pain of failed relationships, the deepening of new ones, and those that exist only in the imagination.

The book begins with the lines “On the bridge out of Brooklyn you asked Do you trust me to not drive over the side, kill us both?” and from there takes us through sometimes interlocking tales of suicide, addiction, survival, and next level love. From a letter to her father to one addressed to Sylvia Plath, each poem is a story that reveals more about the narrator and invites us to consider our own connections.

Alison Bell Miller is a former adult boutique owner, sex educator, and yoga instructor. Originally from Richmond, Virgina, she currently splits her time between San Diego and Joshua Tree. Her first two chapbooks, Flowering, (adj.) by Weasel Press and blink by BarBar Press, were published in 2023. Alison lives with her husband, two kids, two dogs, 14 birds, some fish and a snake and spends most of her time reading in the sun and playing with Legos.