Description
Poetry. "In single cigarettes sold on a city sidewalk, in 'not for individual sale' samples of drugs or beauty products hawked on the Internet, a gray economy blossoms all around us rerouting traditional channels of production and distribution. Krystal Languell's poems outline how individuals thrive and fail such shadowy markets: 'When I was working 60 hours a week,' she writes, 'my dad seemed to like hearing about it.' In a personal accounting of employment histories, relationships, workplaces and homes ('The known spaces / that however fucked are familiar'), Languell records the colliding forces of economics, gender, and aesthetics. The vital poems in GRAY MARKET reveal and rewire capitalism's circuits of shame and desire. 'I am basically begging for it,' Languell writes, 'but it is / the revolution not what you imagine I need.'"—Susan Briante
"I am hooked on Languell's poetry. Her startling shifts among registers of language; her acute prosody, and her savage plain-spokenness reveal not only a great poetic talent but a mind that inquiring people will want to keep close."—Ann Starr
Author Bio
Krystal Languell lives in Chicago. She is the author of three previous books of poetry: CALL THE CATASTROPHISTS (BlazeVox, 2011), GRAY MARKET (1913 Press, 2016), and Quite Apart (University of Akron Press, 2019). Additionally, she has published six chapbooks, including Diamonds in the Flesh, a collaboration with Robert Alan Wendeborn, (Double Cross Press, 2015) and Archive Theft, a collection of interviews, (Essay Press, 2015). Her fourth poetry collection, SYSTEMS THINKING WITH FLOWERS, was the winner of the 2019 Fonograf Editions Open Genre Book Prize.
Author City: CHICAGO, IL USA