dancing girl press & studio, 2024
142 pages
Post-pandemic society, grief, loss, hauntings, and the perils of technology all play a role in this collection set amid the wreckage of the world we once believed we lived in.
from TECHNOGROTESQUE
The machine is a
ghost box,
a
goblin keeper. A radio to
the
beyond. Is part séance,
part
shindig. All the dead
in
their best shoes
sliding
into the frames
of
birthday party photos
like
they belong there.
My
own mother would not
stay
down for years.
In
dreams, insisted she was
still
among the living,
pinging
the notifications
box
with cold fingers.
Each
spring, I listen close
while
the dead rattle
the
keys all night long.
Each
message not from
the
grave but the garage
where
we stowed boxes
full
of drained batteries
and
questionable remotes.
The
broken laptops.
the
dead hold close
to their chests and
whisper
into. Where we all
go
someday, into
pixels
and cake and
tinseled stars.
_________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kristy Bowen is a writer and book artist based in Chicago. She divides her time writing dark and delicious things across many genres, making books, zines, & art, and penning creative lifestyle content for various websites and publications. She blogs about writing, art, horror, and other miscellany at DULCETLY: NOTES ON A BOOKISH LIFE. Raised in the wilds of northern Illinois, she lives and works in a beautiful, but drafty, art deco building near the lake with her cats, her love, too many books, and a vast collection of thrifted finds--only some of which are haunted.
She is the author of a number of chapbooks, zines and artists books. Previous collections include COLLAPSOLOGIES and AUTOMAGIC. Visit: www.kristybowen.com
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