Author Description

"In 'Soul Picked Clean' Cat Russell provides a thoughtful and hopeful collection of sharp-edged, personal poems that balance themes of 'cosmic coincidence' ('Dice') with close observations of daily life and family. Knitting together comfort and struggle, Russell's poems build a sense of alienation filled with tense urgency. In poems like "Serial Killer at the Laundromat' she brings to focus measured risks, remaining 'acutely conscious of / how alone I am' and 'Balloon,' which imagines the growth and deflation of memory and life through 'the events / that would shape and fill me.' If 'Children see the things adults turn away from' ('2 a.m.'), they are also evident in the honest insights of Russell's debut collection." -E. F. Schraeder, author of "Chapter Eleven""Soul Picked Clean" is around 100 pages, perfect bound, 5.5 x 8.5". Front cover photo by Chandra Alderman.