Our first chapbook (since last Summer) is Dear Justice by Jennifer Martelli. This collection is a series of epistles, including pieces directed to each of the six conservative justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. There is also a piece directly addressing the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and another written to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. You may be saying to yourself that this all sounds very political, and you’d be right. But these poems are not political screeds but are, rather, poems interwoven with very personal narratives. For example, the piece addressed to Amy Coney Barrett deals with a very personal health-care procedure.
We try not to be shy about our political leanings here at GBP, but not every political (or “political”) manuscript we receive balances the political vs. the personal in a way that is interesting. This collection does that, showing that, for many of us, all politics are personal. And, here, Jennifer is addressing, through poetry, how one branch of our government is making decisions that have very direct, real-world consequences.
From “Dear Clarence Thomas,”
“When I say
I loved my father, what I mean is: I have no other father. When I say,
I love my husband or my country, I have no other husband, no other country.
Sometimes, love like this is painful.”
This one is now available on the Titles page.