Pre-order my chapbook!
Dear friends,
After many midnight (time-zone altering) trials, re-shuffling and slashing of poems, and other strange hiccups, my chapbook is, as of yesterday, live for pre-order!
The realization of this book over the past two months truly took a whole village—I am constantly in awe and grateful for my friends and loved ones who held my hand every step of the way. While the task of editing this chapbook has woken me up excited every day, there was so much I couldn't have faced alone—and somehow, I never felt alone in a process that, in every way, should have been very lonesome.
The main struggle was that I felt the chapbook was too long yet not long enough—even though it had already been chosen for the prize, I wanted the reading experience to be compact, done in one sitting, which is how my favorite chapbooks are—and yet, there was SO much more I wanted to do in a book. Something finally clicked when I realized that there were three sections to the manuscript—and I didn't want that, I want it to feel like one coherent breath. This realization was only possible once I believed I am capable of working on a full length collection—that these poems have another chance in a full-length book, that I don't have to prove everything I want to do, right here, right now. Instead, my poems here are my little ~hello~ to the world, a free place to explore everything I hope to dive deeper into as I continue writing.
This was the reason for the delay of this chapbook—originally, as promised in my last letter, pre-orders were supposed to open 10/1, but I ended up cutting a long ten-page poem, and two shorter poems, to create a more coherent, compact thing—I want you to read this like one breath-held dive, before you break onto surface for a new breath.
And I couldn't have realized this without the constant support of my always editors Alicia, Michelle, Amir, Kat, Julia, Sophie, Sasha, Peach, and so many others, thank you for reading my multiple drafts and talking me through the shifting of each word. The designing of this cover was also its own struggle—and I am so thankful to Ivy, Mei, and April who took the cover into their own hands when my designer was not on the same page as me. I feel so seen.
These poems were written throughout my time at NYU, two years that truly changed my relationship to writing--my gratitude to all my teachers there. And of course, I am so grateful to my dear friends April and Hope, whose family this book is written for.
And I want to say here: thank YOU, my dear friend and reader, I am so moved that you have been with me on this journey for so long — I wish I could send a copy of this chapbook to all of you, across the seas!
When I began editing this chapbook, I didn't realize how much publicity work I will be asked to do— in this digital age, especially since we are all at home on social media atm—and this disjunct between my private self in the writing of the poems and the public sharing still makes me uncomfortable.
Writing poetry, for me, is like creating a private language and sense of time. Each poem is written in its own moment in time, in conversation with the specific circumstance of my life. So it's been very strange to ask for blurbs, and see my work read and reflected in the eyes of others, especially poets I have long looked up to—I feel if I read their praise, I would never write again!
Now, I will say goodbye with the opening poem to my chapbook, "There They Are" recently published in The Florida Review: a poem written after Sharon Olds' I return to May 1937, about the need to reimagine our beginnings:
This chapbook is a limited edition of 250, saddle stitched copies, and the cover is letter pressed, you can pre-order the chapbook here ! If you like, please share this on social media and with friends! Also, I'm so new to publicity things but, please reach out to me if you are interested in writing a review, doing an interview, or sharing this book in other ways on other platforms!
Here is the first review of my chapbook! And my interview on Singapore Unbound!
The Zoom launch party will be in a month, on 11/20, please join me to celebrate! :)
Thank you as always, for coming on this strange journey with me, take care ~
JinJin
***
inspired by Amir, I will be ending my newsletters with shout-outs to happenings in the community
poet and critic Yanyi's weekly writing advice column The Reading, dispensing thoughtful and necessary advice on how to navigate a writing career
my publisher, Brooklyn worker-owned collective Radix Media is currently fundraising on Kickstarter to put out three collections of graphic projects by Molly Crabapple, Ganzeer & John Dermot Woods -- they have 61 more hours to reach the last 10% of their goal!
Artists in presidents is a new Fireside Chats podcast bringing together 50 artists to reimagine a collective future
Let's keep reading up on the protests in Thailand, Nigeria, everywhere...—Thai journalist Jasmine Chia's (who I met during the Watson) piece on Motorcycle Taxis: The Hidden Heroes of the Protests
Recent debuts I'm reading: K-Ming Chang's Beastiary, C Pam Zhang's How Much of These Hills Are Gold, Jihyun Yun's Some Are Always Hungry
The conversation I hosted with poet-in-exile Abdul Samad is now up on the Manderley Collective website, and I am still fundraising to reach our goal of $500 for his medical funds (we are currently at $350). For my 26th birthday, I would love to invite you to contribute to his cause! (we are using my venmo @jinjinxu)