I love the found object vibe of the whole chapbook.

IMO it's a radical act to write this at work lol. I really loved this collection. Especially your poem about the sentiment "art must come from a place of pain," I love how you played with words in it, it was just so good

I could definitely relate to some of your poems! Thank you for sharing.

"While You Were Out" is a short set of poems by shelbyjd (twitter). Shelby expresses that it is "written at and largely about work. It's about the things I worry about on the job: politics, being a closeted trans person, having friends go to jail, possibly having a mental illness." I love the design of this one through and through. It's hand-written and hand-drawn all the way thorough on (I believe) scanned slips of paper from some sort of workplace communications notepad. I love seeing which poems are on the front with the checklists and lines and serial numbers and which poems are written all over the blank backsides of these slips. For a chapbook about work, it conveys the invasion of work into one's own internal mind and life perfectly. The pen scribbles on each respective slip convey so much varied meaning about the poem. It's a physical interaction with the paper it was written on that I really love.

"If you are reading this any time between 1787 and now, American democracy is an oxymoron."

i liked all of the poems in this chapbook – my favorite line is “I thinke/ they are more afraid of me/than I am/ of them” – i liked how it talked about being trans and being at work, because it made me think about what it means to try and make art when you also have to work.

the format fits in with that – using office paper forms as the actual material for writing is [chef’s kiss]