Kailey Tedesco

Sisterhood, mysterious treasure, fallen angels, deviant afterlives, slasher barbies, poetic viruses, baboon warfare, sex magic, hurricanes, leviathans, anti-romcoms, overly-realistic dreams, doll-written novels, talking bodega cats, mutant rats, evil deer, chemtrails, voodoo, gravitrons, clouds of mass destruction, death, ghosts, demons, spells, death, dystopia, magic blankets, ultracapitalism, journalistic supervillainy, class warfare, death...and everything else published in the pages of FLAPPERHOUSE during its fifth and final year.

Between body and spirit, place and soul, love and trauma, and logic and magic, Kailey Tedesco finds herself between two worlds in this stunning collection of debut poetry. Treading the line between the dual nature of our human spirit, this collection brings to light what our physical, and then spiritual, selves' place is in the cosmos and the realm beyond our immediate sight. Through images of Catholicism, heavenly bodies, caul births, dark magic, serpents, and God, Tedesco challenges what it means to be Woman in a world so clouded by opposing truths, illuminating herself and elevating our human experience.

Over the last two years, criture feminine, or female writing, has been quintessential in forming the wider narrative of Lehigh Valley Vanguard. When crusading against social norms, specifically capitalist culture, women are primary agents in crafting a new sense of purpose. If we are to relinquish capitalist patriarchy, highlighting female expression may get us thinking about paths to change. Those who are oppressed by the current system can provide insight into how we may transform it. Sometimes overtly, but also through more imaginative means. In some of these pieces we are looking at female experience through the course of generations. What can we learn from the echo of our ancestors? How can we take those reverberations and make them meaningful for decades to come? You will find all the waves of feminism up to this point informing the writing of each author. Each in diverse ways, each woman rendering their distinctive voice. Examine the narratives in this volume. Explore what criture feminine can show us about radical change.