{"product_id":"chaotic-good-9780819501806","title":"Chaotic Good","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn evocative journey of self-discovery and reclamation in the wake of divorce\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis fresh, dynamic debut poetry book from award-winning poet Isabelle Baafi explores the transformative journey of redefining one's identity following trauma and upheaval. This conversational collection simmers with energy and immediacy as it interrogates how much our identity is determined by the circumstances into which we are born. The book's five sections travel backwards and forwards in time: asking urgent questions of self-knowledge and change during a marital breakdown, revisiting the formation of a moral compass during childhood, navigating the pitfalls of powerlessness and conformity during adolescence, charting the rise and fall of a passionate marriage, and seeking revitalisation in the wake of divorce. Visceral scenes from childhood and adolescence are set against deeply resonant moments of love blossoming and love dying to explore desire, power, and self-perception in unexpected ways. This exquisite and moving collection marks the emergence of a distinctive poetic voice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Sample Poem]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe way you say pen\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAfter Irene P. Mathieu's 'Soil'\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eit sounds like pain, as in\u003cbr\u003eall I ever wanted was to live by my pain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you want to raze a city, all you need \u003cbr\u003eis some paper and a good pain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou once said that a woman with a pain \u003cbr\u003eis like a gun who soon finds more targets than mercy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEvery day I lost another pain, but you \u003cbr\u003egave me another to take its place.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA child starts out writing in pencil, \u003cbr\u003ebut mastery is rewarded with a pain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAged six, first trip without Dad, my legs the canvas: \u003cbr\u003elightning scratched into me with my mother's pain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy shadow from the day I learned to skip \u003cbr\u003ewith bloodied knees - she was my pain pal all this time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe pain is mightier than the sword, \u003cbr\u003eand twice as likely to punish its owner.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat a luxury and a curse, to live and die \u003cbr\u003eby the torrent of my pain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRainclouds surround the registry. Organza-veiled \u003cbr\u003eand blister-footed, I am yours with the flick of a pain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Fill out in block capitals with black ink.' Some truths \u003cbr\u003eare only valid when the right pain tells them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eISABELLE BAAFI's writing has been published in the\u003ci\u003e Times Literary Supplement, The Poetry Review, The London Magazine, Aesthetica Magazine, Oxford Poetr\u003c\/i\u003ey, and elsewhere. Her debut\u003ci\u003e Ripe\u003c\/i\u003e (2020), won a Somerset Maugham Award and was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. She is the Reviews Editor at \u003ci\u003ePoetry London\u003c\/i\u003e, a Ledbury Poetry Critic, an Obsidian Foundation Fellow, and an editor at \u003ci\u003eMagma\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Wesleyan University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51183050195218,"sku":"9780819501806","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_28cc3254-cc99-436e-bdd9-63a2576240ef.jpg?v=1744453350","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/chaotic-good-9780819501806","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}