A Poet's Directory of Wild Things

I've never met a poem I didn't like; every poem tries. Each one opens up, seeking connection and risking rejection. The bravest go on alone, feeling like outsiders, searching for kin. They belong here, in our coterie for the weird, the gorgeous, the revolutionary. It's apropos, too, 'weird' comes from 'wyrd,' meaning 'destiny'-the power to shape fate, to share a common destiny: one action affects all. In this anthology, weird becomes a beautiful revolutionary way to think about life. -Huascar MedinaI love poetry for the ways it connects us, how a poem asks with an almost desperation: do you see me? I am so thrilled to have seen and been immersed in all the poems in this incredible collection. I love how a poem is a mirror into someone else's perspective, but at the core of it, it unites us-if only for a few pages. The call for weird, gorgeous, and revolutionary poems did not disappoint. This collection is full of beauty, oddities, and calls to action. The voices included all demand to be heard, whether it's an impatient whisper, or setting a fire to demand action. - Tyler HurulaTake the heartbeat of that one wild poem and compound it a few dozen times, and what you have is what you hold in your hands. I hope you'll listen in. Examine a new room of another human's heart, along with your own until they are inseparable. Read these wild hearts sideways and slantways and sober as they lay on the page. When your heart is no longer hungry, set down this book. Enough of the heart for now. Go be a pair of hands where they are needed. - Brice MaiurroThe poetry in this anthology responds to the press's quiet question of what is weird, what is gorgeous, and what is revolutionary. From the first submissions, we started to see an incredible narrative unfolding as poem after poem on everything from roadkill and refrigerators to fascism and femininity came our way. The conversations between poets -- some who are well-known to each other in our home community of Denver, Colorado and plenty who are strangers around the world -- emerged in a way that helped me understand more of what humanity is holding in our current moment. Reader, I love this book: while considering the order for the poems, I found myself exclaiming, "I LOVE THIS ONE!" over and over again as I re-encountered the staggering works contained herein. As you read, please let these brave offerings wash over you and be moved to act, to reflect, to write, to share the weird, gorgeous, revolutionary words.