Three new poems at Third Point Press!

"Treasure Beach Goat Skull," by Michelle Johnsen. Third Point Press, Issue 2.

My first batch of Silence of the Lambs poems has been published in the second issue of Third Point Press! You can now read "That is rather slippery of you, Agent Starling," "How do we begin to covet, Clarice?" and "Have the lambs stopped screaming?" here. I really like the way poems look on the site but I really love the art they used to pair with them. It's called "Treasure Beach Goat Skull," by TPP art editor Michelle Johnsen, and it is so perfect. Seeing these poems and this art together just make me even happier that we have now officially entered autumn territory and Halloween's a-coming. Cozy and creepy.

Another fun thing about this publication is that one of the poems also happens to be my second-ever perfume poem. Remember The Book of Scented Things, the anthology that I co-edited with the amazing Jehanne Dubrow? Well, it is the prompt that keeps on prompting. A few months ago when I was deep into the writing of this poem series, Jehanne stumbled upon this mention of The Silence of the Lambs on one of her favorite perfume blogs which names the scent Clarice Starling wears: L'Air du Temps by Nina Ricci. When she read this, she let me know straight away that I just had to write a perfume poem into my SotL series. And, as usual, she was right. I even bought a bottle of the iconic perfume as "poem research." And while it's not a scent I would wear myself (too powdery and musky and gives me a bit of a headache), it was a great way into a meditation on innocence, decay, and the destructive nature of desire.  

I hope you'll read this new issue from Third Point Press! I can't wait to dig into it tomorrow morning. Happy fall, friends.



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