Wholesale States of Arousal - Paperback

by Sunshine O'Donnell (Author) Winner of the 2022 Louise Bogan Award, Sunshine O'Donnell's States of Arousal offers a gripping and relevant poetry collection outlining the modern human experience. Violence and love are evoked in equal measure, making up the foreground of collective tragedies such as American school shootings and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Nostalgia is infused into O'Donnell's imagery, bringing Philadelphia to life as both haunted and beautiful: "For decades I collect/ goodbye letters and try to hide them/ from myself." States of Arousal is a collection that takes on large-scale issues with intimate and vulnerable imagery. The reader is confronted by the brutality of the modern world while simultaneously comforted by the delicate displays of the human spirit. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sunshine O’Donnell’s novel has been translated into Dutch (Huil Voor Mij) and Hebrew (המקוננות). O'Donnell's collection of poetry, States of Arousal, won the Louise Bogan Award and will be released by Trio House Press in 2023. O’Donnell’s nonfiction work includes the board book Your Vacation on Planet Earth (Out Breath Press/The Nesting House), and a selection in W.W. Norton’s anthology of Best Creative Nonfiction. Throughout her 20s and 30s, O’Donnell taught creative writing and art to children in residential facilities, in-patient mental health facilities, shelters for the unhoused, and underserved schools, publishing literary magazines created and edited by youth with a special focus on children telling their stories about their experiences in the DHS placement system. A featured sugar artist on The Food Network and Cake Central magazine, O’Donnell has won juried awards for her inedible art made out of discarded things. Since 2013, O’Donnell has been teaching middle school in Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband and child. Number of Pages: 70 Dimensions: 0.17 x 9 x 6 IN Publication Date: July 01, 2023