FIRST DRAFTS FROM THE BREWERY
First Drafts from the Brewery explores the ends, and beginnings, of relationships, the value of true-blue friends, and the delights of the seasons. Less a how-to guide to divorce, and more a long and lingering porch-chat complete with good beer or a strong whiskey, this collection embraces simplicity while staring down pain without flinching. But not to worry, there’s plenty of cats, puppies, and cozy blankets.
Poetry/ 978-1-956692-12-9/ April 19, 2022
First Drafts from the Brewery explores the ends, and beginnings, of relationships, the value of true-blue friends, and the delights of the seasons. Less a how-to guide to divorce, and more a long and lingering porch-chat complete with good beer or a strong whiskey, this collection embraces simplicity while staring down pain without flinching. But not to worry, there’s plenty of cats, puppies, and cozy blankets.
Poetry/ 978-1-956692-12-9/ April 19, 2022
First Drafts from the Brewery explores the ends, and beginnings, of relationships, the value of true-blue friends, and the delights of the seasons. Less a how-to guide to divorce, and more a long and lingering porch-chat complete with good beer or a strong whiskey, this collection embraces simplicity while staring down pain without flinching. But not to worry, there’s plenty of cats, puppies, and cozy blankets.
Poetry/ 978-1-956692-12-9/ April 19, 2022
Praise for FIRST DRAFTS FROM THE BREWERY
First Drafts from the Brewery is a book about repair, about what we do when the waters haven't quite claimed us yet-that furtive in-the-meantime. "Grief," our speaker says, "lives in my body." But also in that body lies the psychic excavation of so many riches: confetti and PetSmart, Lemon Pledge and Elvis, resin. And in our grieving bodies we are kept such great company: land surveyors, Paul Simon, bad dates, grandparents, even famous writers. There lives inside these thoughtful and honest, observant poems an invoking familiarity. I used to love a song that asked: "Where do you go when you're lonely?" These poems answer that. You go everywhere, and with all your people, and with all your things. And you clink the festive glasses of curiosity and gratitude while you're at it.
—Mamie Morgan,poet whose work has appeared inWashington Square Review, The Oxford American, Fish Barrel Review, Nimrod, Muzzle, Four Way Review, Yemassee, Carolina Quarterly, Smartish Pace, The Yalobusha Review, Cimarron, Inkwell, andThe Greensboro Review.Her first collection of poetry,EVERYONE I'VE DANCED WITH IS DEAD,is forthcoming from Jackleg Press.
In First Drafts from the Brewery, Rowe Carenen has created the kind of collection we need to see. It straddles the boundaries between universality and confession, between sophistication and accessibility so deftly that those who think they don't love poetry might find themselves lost in its pages. Ultimately an exploration of many griefs, these poems are also dedicated to a return to self in body and in spirit: "My happiness is mine/ and no one owns it/ but me." At times playful, at times meditative, at times rife with disappointment, First Drafts from the Brewery is a collection that fights to and succeeds in "creak[ing] out/ of ... bed and beat[ing] back/ stagnation, again."
—Kate Fallon, author of two books of poetryThe Toothmakers' DaughtersandDemoted Planet
About ROWE CARENAN
Rowe Carenen is a graduate of Salem College and the University of Southern Mississippi. When asked, she'd say that poetry has been her passion ever since she realized that words could convey more than just the facts. Her poems have appeared in various literary journals and magazines, including The Revenant Culture, GERM, Terrible Orange Review, the Running with Water anthology, and her first collection, In the Meantime, was published by Neverland Publishing in 2014. She lives in Greenville, South Carolina, with her cat Minerva Jane and dog Neville Jameson.
