Hello! Happy Friday! Happy mid-June (WHAT) happy almost-summer! I have some new sunglasses from Target and some new sparkly sandals from Burlington Coat Factory, so I am PREPARED.
Speaking of being prepared…
You Can Preorder My Book!!!!! My First Book of Poems!
Hey! Guess what? I wrote a book of poems. It is being published. And you can own it! A real, physical book with my name on it can be yours (or, if you’d rather, a real, digital ebook with my name on it). I’m very excited for this chapbook to enter the world. It’s pretty short – 28 poems, under 50 pages – with some new, never-before-seen prose writing spliced in. It’s a treatise on friendship: lifelong friends, failed friends, forgotten friends, new-but-immediately-beloved friends. There’s also a section about Dottie, who is my friend and also a cat.
I really, really, really hope you decide to read it! Here is the preorder link. When it ships and the digital edition is available, I’ll pop back in to share that information for you ebook readers.
To accompany the book, I was lucky to receive advance praise from three people I very much admire in the literary community! Here’s what people are saying about my book:
“Reading this collection, I was reminded of the Georgia O'Keeffe quote: ‘nobody sees a flower—really—it is so small—and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time.’ These poems are little studies of time – spending it, passing it, cherishing it, wasting it—and as a whole it's an exuberant examination of youthful allegiances, and bruised and tender feelings, of hopes and disappointments and reinventions and the courage to try again. ‘Love is work, sometimes.’ Brava in finding such inspiration from the everyday—this is what a true poet does!” — Elizabeth Bales Frank, author of "Censorettes"
“Hattie Hayes's beautiful debut collection is an absolutely stunning, vivid and emotional journey full of vibrant poems on the myriad ways friendship creates its own map on life's terrain. A fantastic debut, very excited to see what comes next!” — Ellyn Maybe, poet/musician/lyricist
“Hattie Jean Hayes’s Poems [for, about, because] My Friends is a remarkable debut collection that navigates the complexities of its big ideas (friendship, life’s search for meaning) with subtlety, heart, and an eye for the small and wonderful. The hands of a clock: “They can only give me so much at once.” A newly purchased hat: “I know it will be better, not to have anything of yours to give back.” Within the accumulation of its observant detail, Hayes’s collection succeeds again and again, growing more universal and impactful with each page. Poems [for, about, because] My Friends reaffirms one of the greatest gifts of poetry: a recalibration of the heart and mind. I finished this collection a bit more hopeful, a bit more open, and a bit more closely attuned to the present. Cherish these poems as you would a dear friend." — David Byron Queen, founder and publisher, word west press
Many thanks to the people who have already preordered. I got an email from the publisher a little bit ago that we’ve already needed to increase the print order to keep up with demand. WOW. It hasn’t even been a full day since preorders went live, so that feels PHENOMENAL.
New York friends, take note: there will be an opportunity in the near future to get a signed copy (or have me sign your preordered copy!!!) and hopefully hear some of the poems read aloud…stay tuned.
Okay What Else Is Going On
Quick shout-out to my phenomenal friends and family who took care of me while I was sick last week and continue to provide for me today. Thanks to Chloe for helping me scam Panera Bread out of many soups. Thanks to Tara and Sophia and Amy and my mom for enriching my life/air with a fancy purifier that will give me pure sweet oxygen like a rich, sickly child at the seaside. And thanks to Myles for keeping my home stocked with sports drinks, soft cookies, and hot tea, and running the ship while I was too unconscious to text anybody back.
I am about to finish The Best of Everything and immediately hand it off to my friend Sophia, because it is the type of gossipy heartbreaking publishing-world novel we both willingly signed up to live, for some weird reason!
My friend Tristan said I may like Make Your Art No Matter What, so I snagged that from the library. I’ve also snagged a copy of Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag, by the phenomenal Sigrid Nunez. For a couple years, I’ve considered reading the full Nunez catalog in order. Maybe reading this biography of the mentor/friend relationship between Sontag and Nunez will kickstart that project.
Beyond that, right now my book queue has a little bit of a…theme. Whoops. Maybe it’s the influence of Mrs. Davis or maybe I’m just thirsty for books similar to Lauren Groff’s novel Matrix, but my summer TBR pile is chockablock with “convent girl summer” energy. See: Agatha of Little Neon, Carnality, The Reconception of Marie.
I’d also like to read The Poetics of Wrongness, based on the title and one blurry screenshot of a passage about Sylvia Plath that I saw on Twitter.
Cormac McCarthy died and I’m mad about that!!!!!!! What the hell! So I may also reread his works (INCLUDING those two newest books, which I’ve not read) this summer. Sigrid Nunez, hold tight.
I want to read the two dozen articles/short stories/reviews that represent a segment of the 48 tabs (ughhhhhhhh) currently open on my phone.
There’s a new season of Black Mirror. This show strikes out for me too often – I grew tired of the premise What If Phones, But Too Much??? – so I have tasked my friend Matt with spoiling every episode for me instead and he’s doing a great job.
Hey, also. I came up with a brilliant/elaborate/effective color-coding system for my $6.99 Target day planner, which feels like the only real tangible thing in my life right now. I would like to copy it into a digital planning app so I can have color-coded, time-sensitive reminders for important tasks. Are there any planner apps – free ones! – that DON’T suck? Google is not very pretty, and sucks. Apple’s iCal sucks/is unreliable. I used to use the Timepage app by Moleskine but it’s wildly overpriced. Your recommendations welcome!
I Didn’t Buy Any of This Stuff…YET
As always, here is what I did not buy this week.
A suspicious website called “Corset Story” is continually running a “six for the price of one” deal. I came THISCLOSE, far too many times! I’m too scared of the $300+ price tags on most of my favorite items to charge ahead. But also, isn’t this green gingham dress the best thing you have ever seen?
On the scale of “too rich for Hattie’s blood,” this $20 bodysuit from Target is…substantially less egregious. But for ONE bodysuit it is still too expensive! I touched it at the store yesterday, and now I have no chance but to wait patiently for a clearance markdown and a Target Circle/RedCard kickback of some sort.
I didn’t buy any of the sandals at Target because, what the hell, they’re SO expensive! They are all $20+ and made of painful-looking flimsy PVC. Instead, I went to Burlington and got some sturdy, comfy, detailed, sparkly metallic sandals for $12.99 to wear at Chloe’s wedding if and when my feet get tired of heels, late into the dancing.
Okay, speaking of sandal decisions…something is deeply wrong because I want Birkenstocks. I blame Juliette Lewis and her character arc in Yellowjackets S2 for making me think “purple or pink Birkenstock sandals” was a good hyper fixation. I like the straps on the Franca, and I have been looking for the lilac, orchid, or fuchsia on eBay. I figure that “gently used” or “new without tag” Birkenstocks are a good entry point for me, a woman who has never made a practical footwear decision in her life.
I take it back about that dress. This $400 swimsuit is the actual best thing I’ve ever seen.
For a while I’ve been eyeballing (and nostrilling!) this haircare brand called Moist Diane. It’s a Japanese brand and I mostly want to try it because the bottles look like jewels. I had considered buying some next week! But at Target (sorry, this newsletter is really focused on my recent Target visit), I found the Native Gummy Bear shampoo and conditioner on clearance, which I’ve wanted for ages. I bought those and now I will have gummy hair.
WHY doesn’t this cute pink bow phone case come in iPhone 11 size?! My beloved clown is getting too floppy for my phone! I need security in the form of kitschy ribbons!
I did not get Dottie this little pink cowgirl hat. I might. But I think it looks uncomfortable. Don’t worry! I bought her a pretty summer dress, which she loves.
Okay, that’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Thanks for supporting me. Please, please, please, preorder my book of poems, because I want these poems to live in your heart, head and home, just like they have lived, for so long, in mine.