{"product_id":"taking-to-water-paperback","title":"Taking to Water - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJennifer Conlon\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA debut collection of poems that question gender and embrace queerness through the natural world of North Carolina.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e A tender imagining and devastating reckoning, Jennifer Conlon's debut presents a poetry collection of gender questioning, concerned with the survival of trans and nonbinary kids who live in places that do not allow them to thrive. The speaker of these poems wrestles with and envisions a life beyond their traumatic childhood as a genderqueer child in a small Southern Bible Belt town. Through retelling and reinterpreting moments of sexual shame and religious oppression, while navigating impossible expectations from a gender-binary society, Conlon shows readers that queerness and the natural world are inseparable. In their poems, Conlon comes to reject oppressive patriarchal figures, turning their gaze toward the natural world that catalyzes dreams of possibility, transformation, and safety--wasps protect them, an oak tree contains a new god, and flathead catfish guide them to a newly imagined body. Through thick North Carolina woods, Conlon searches for a language to celebrate queerness, finding it in ponds, hillsides, and within themselves. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eTaking to Water\u003c\/i\u003e was selected by Carl Phillips as the winner of the 2022 Autumn House Poetry Prize. \u003cbr\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJennifer Conlon \u003c\/b\u003eis from North Carolina and lives in Tempe, Arizona, where they teach at Arizona State University. Their poems have been published by \u003ci\u003eBayou Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Juked\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBennington Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDIALOGIST\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThreadcount\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere.\u003ci\u003e Taking to Water \u003c\/i\u003eis their first book. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 88\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.3 x 8.7 x 7.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 16, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42151303938183,"sku":"9781637680766","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/c4e1a83980f4850090f2237802510ae7.webp?v=1733206105","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/taking-to-water-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}