Mascara, Boobs & Headbands
by Susan Milchman
Milchman borrows 80s song lyrics to transform them (via the golden shovel form) into long-lined poems tied together with fearless wit, rhythm, and sharp-tongued agency: “the dreams a girl keeps like a bent knife in her boot / like a fistful of borrowed fire.” In these pages you’ll find poems “bruised and sugared,” a little wild, a little broken, and ever relentless. (Porkbelly Press 2024)
Additional Info
Excerpt
HEY LITTLE GIRL
(a golden shovel after Bruce Springsteen)
Wet ash and blood dirt roll a song with the backbeat of skin begging to grow into sea. / Hey
I never asked for your madness / but I’ll slip it on & nibble it to the edge / drink all the little
shadows digging phantom wells / that flood me with bright teeth, smoky hair & the dreams a girl
keeps like a bent knife in her boot / like a fistful of borrowed fire. / Empty me where the forest is
thick-throated / & moonlight hushes moss into a gloss of midnight creatures / that open your
miserable hunger. / Where a scorch of webs undo the birds / unmother the sky. / I know daddy
can’t help me now. / Nothing to do / but roll into the slick black water & beg for home.
*line from “I’m on Fire” © 1984
About the Poet
Susan Milchman’s poetry has appeared in The Journal, SWWIM Every Day, Stirring, Glass Poetry, Rust+Moth, Rogue Agent, FERAL: A Journal of Poetry and Art, tiny wren lit, and elsewhere. She has poetry in the anthologies Bramble & Thorn, Haunted, and Final Girl (Porkbelly Press).
Susan’s poetry has been nominated for Best of the Net and her published work can be found at susanmilchman.com.
About the Cover Artist
Nicci Mechler (she/her) splits her time between exploring, spinning tales (sometimes yarn), bookbinding, printmaking, and drawing. Her art has appeared in shows around the world and lives in numerous private & museum collections. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with a pack of rescue animals specializing in troublemaking and joy. Current obsessions: witchy poems, embroidery, gaming with friends, printmaking, and folktales.
The cover types are Modula Round by Zuzana Lucko from Emigre Fonts and Mudstone Sans by Erica Jung and Ricardo Marcin at PintassilgoPrints foundry. The mix tape and stars are by martyshova (freepik).
Notes
Work in this chapbook also appeared in Haunted, FERAL: A journal of Poetry and Art, SWWIM Every Day, Final Girl, Bad Pony, and tiny wren lit.
playlist
Mascara, Boobs & Headbands
Susan Milchman
Spotify / 27 min