Don't Worry About Me, by M.R. Mandell

Poetry, chapbook, 44 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Don’t Worry About Me is a lyrical narrative of a girl growing up in a volatile, often violent, sometimes loving family, often on the edge of financial and emotional destruction.

Her poems tell stories of how she navigates her fractured world, with moments of tenderness between mother and daughter, juxtaposed with the harsh realities of surviving a household with a father full of desperation and rage.

In M.R. Mandell’s debut chapbook, her poems span the west, from Texas to California, exploring the empty corners of a conservative small town, to the hopes, fantasies, humor, and darkness of Los Angeles, the city she ultimately finds her dreams.

M.R. Mandell (she/her) is a poet based in Los Angeles. She lives by the beach with her muse, a Golden Retriever named Chester Blue, and her longtime partner. You can find her work in JAKE, Roi Fainéant, sage cigarettes, Anti-Heroin Chic, Stanchion Zine, Fine Print, Maudlin House, Unbroken, Five Minutes, Writers Resist, The McNeese Review, and others.