Publisher's Synopsis
Poetry. Giving voice to these invisible girls, Matos' narrator tells a story of fierce, maternal love forging a familial bond, as beautiful and loyal as it is corrosive. This eulogy is an intimate, unapologetic conversation 'like chess by mail' that sneaks up and stuns us. We are told, 'You will need an axe for what is coming next.' Tenacious, neglected, tender, these girls redefine family and make us consider what we're willing to do for the people we love.--Liz Whiteacre
'Coming alive is terrible, ' the speaker of OXIDANE warns. She is terribly loyal, a tiny teen bodyguard driven by 'compulsive solidarity' to protect her 'empyrean and unnameable' friend. Packed with hard truths and witty observations of adolescent friendship, these narrative poems are heavy as a garden hose in winter and yet still 'looped in sparking arcs' of language. You will want to know these girls, tame them, drink them back in.--Sara Tracey
Refracting through webs of fractured ice, Matos' vignettes illuminate the shades of what it means to feel too much. Longing, cruelty, and transcendence intertwine as our narrator, her dark partner, and You, their Muse, drift just below the surface of failed institutions and absent authority, pushing against the thin but unbreakable skin that separates our need for release from our need to belong.--Matt Mullins
OXIDANE has the reach of taut flash fiction fiction and the punch of expertly crafted poetry. It is a truly hybrid animal you'll think about running from--but you'll find yourself running towards it.--J. Bradley
