not my daughter by Jessie Scrimager Galloway
not my daughter by Jessie Scrimager Galloway is a full-length collection of poems.
ISBN: 978-1-935847-21-2
not my daughter is a mesmerizing collection of 44 poems that are part confessional, part documentary, part analytical lyric exploration of the adoption system, part southern baptist parentage and queer identity narrative, part psychedelic sensual love story of the self and others, part meditation on loss and processing of grief with a complicated relationship, part, part, part. As you will find throughout, “this is my body, / broken for you,” it contains multitudes.
Jessie is a poetic auteur of technical brilliance, singular personality, and deep interior meaning who immerses the reader in a universe through the use of her textured world which, even though it’s only a slice, feels whole.
“With crisp lyricism and narration, not my daughter slices dogma and illuminates the power of resiliency. This book is a must-have for living in this world and claiming your sexuality, your name, your life no matter what. Jessie’s poems redefine daughterhood and embrace what we humans long for, always, love.”
–Thea Matthews, author of Unearth [The Flowers]
“The queer-adopted-kid-poet-who-teaches-creative-writing in me swoons over the brilliant craft and the precise play with language. I’ll return to this collection again and again. I want to use every poem as an example of “this is how you truth.” These poems give us somewhere to belong and make us feel less alone.”
–Su Flatt
“Jessie's lines of poetry are glass castles; ready to shatter over you again and again. She elicits a yearning, that is delicate and eternal, from tender moments that can make—or break—a life: a ripped saccharine packet lying prostrate on a table, a fork scraping the rim of a plate, the pluck of fishnet threads marking a thigh.”
–Andrea Passwater
“This debut collection presents a brilliant examination of three languages: heritage, erasure, and wonder. Here, you’ll see a poet in the crossfire of the human experience. This work cuts with precision crafting a map that resonates with raw authenticity. Jessie weaves a narrative that is both haunting and deeply moving. This book is a must-read.”
–Antony Fangary, author of Haram
Jessie Scrimager Galloway is an adopted, queer poet with mommy issues. She is a graduate of Pacific University’s MFA program and author of the chapbook Liminal: A Life of Cleavage (Lost Horse Press, 2006). She loves her wife’s fried chicken and enjoys riveting conversations with her best editor: Snacks, a wily, polydactyl, orange cat.
