By Catherine Lewis

Catherine Lewis’ Zipless wears femme armour. These poems are fortified by Valentino stilettos and sundresses in August’s heat. The thick-skinned and vivid voice firmly leads the reader to fertility clinics, first dates and Pride parties. Zipless leads us further still—into the complex positionality of a mature polyamorous Asian bisexual navigating a queer world that is often too narrowly-focused to see her multitudes. Lewis widens the landscape of queer poetics, punching 4-inch-deep heel marks into the ground as she goes.”

In this brief volume, Catherine Lewis articulates the emergence of writer and lesbian from the burnt offerings of her intended ordinary life. When the expected abandons the narrator, her eloquent quest for joy begins. Affirming, moving, intelligent poetry. Open your heart and read.”

In Zipless, Catherine Lewis invites us to stride many miles in a pair of Valentino heels. By crafting a poetics around experiences of failed fertility treatments, dating queer in a middle-aged, racialized body, and lack of cultural and ‘intrafamilial consensus,’ she carefully ‘unzips’ the ways we can attempt to love somebody, or ourselves, and how to continue to hope when those avenues lead to an end without closure. Poignantly heartbreaking and tenacious, this debut is a courageous embrace with honest wisdoms.”

Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: 845 Press