Forgive Yourself These Tiny Acts of Self-Destruction

by Jared Singer

Overview

With work that ranges from the laugh out loud funny to the silence of rage and loss, Forgive Yourself These Tiny Acts of Self-Destruction is a must read.

This is a collection of work that asks itself for forgiveness while becoming an instruction manual on how readers can follow suit. These complex and passionate poems make space for a narrative about the self in the wake of destruction.

It explores American culture and examines how Singers identity as a Jewish American underpins daily life. This book tells us that forgiveness has the power to grant a release from the shame we carry about our decisions.

Forgive yourself was written from a place of vulnerability and pushes us towards compassion for the person we are with the most, ourselves.

Forgive Yourself is a modern handbook for finding yourself and your place without losing your way.

Advance praise for Forgive Yourself These Tiny Acts of Forgiveness

Jared Singer has constructed deeply nuanced, breathtakingly honest pieces for his readers to revisit often, making new discoveries each time. This collection asserts Singer as an authentic, confessional voice capable of creating depth and complexity that begs for further opening and unraveling.
— Chris August, author of Loving Instruments

Jared Singer is an honest, gentle, fearless engineer who has compiled an in-depth and thorough instruction manual on how to hope, to survive, to cope, and to champion beauty.
— Mighty Mike McGee, Artist

Jared Singer's bone shattering honesty is disarming, and delightful.
–Rico Frederick, Author of Broken Calypsonian

Following themes of childhood, self-image, social justice, love, and magic, this collection makes good on its promise of absolution.
— Brendan Constantine, Author Letters to Guns

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781943735617
Publisher:	Button Poetry
Publication date:	12/03/2019
Series:	Button Poetry
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	301,085
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Jared Singer is an Audio Engineer and poet who lives in Secaucus, NJ. While he may have physically grown up with his peers, he has never forgotten the imagination, magic, and nerdiness that were corner stones of his childhood. He hopes to remind others of these more creative times. He has also appeared on the Indiefeed Peformance Poetry Podcast. He has represented New York eight times at the National Slam level, including two final stage appearances at the National Poetry Slam. Jared has long believed in the healing power of the mountains, kittens, and lists of three.

Table of Contents

Hometown 1

Shatter 2

Jared ( ) Singer 4

Why I Will Never Learn To Play the Cello 6

Exchange Rates 7

An Autobiography 8

Simple Truth 10

My Hands 11

There is a Wolf in My Chest 12

The Last Time We Saw Each Other 14

Sideshow 15

Exchange Rates 2 16

To the Boy with the Broken Skin 17

Hardest Thing 18

For Christine (My Best Friend's Fiancée) 20

Resonance 21

First Kiss Magic 22

The Engineer Seeks Artistry 23

On Being a Fat Man 24

I Have Never Been Suicidal 25

A Letter to Sarah Contemplating Superpowers 26

Being Jewish Means Always Being Too Much or Not Enough 1 28

ASL 30

Warning to Travelers 31

To the Young Man Who Only Talks about Himself in Image and Metaphor 32

Things I Have Been Told After Performing a Found Poem 34

Rope 35

Being Jewish Means Always Being Too Much or Not Enough 2 36

Toxicity 37

April 16, 2007 38

Jewdaism 40

Tiny Words 42

Whimsy 43

Things I Can't Believe We Don't Have Words For 44

A Letter to Arizona from the American Flag 46

Being Jewish Means Always Being Too Much or Not Enough 3 48

I Still Miss You 49

Siren 50

Hero 51

Things to Do When Not Taking Your Sleeping Pills 52

The Engineer Makes a Flowchart 54

Silence 56

Brokenhearted but Still Full of Hope, the Engineer Tries to Build a Perfect Heart 58

Advice from My Inner Punk Rock We Should All Take 59

Beer 60

Growing Old 62

The Last Love Letter from an Entomologist 63

Personal Soundtrack 66

Artifacts 68

I Fall In Love like Punk Rock 70

Love 1A: 72

Beekeeper 74

Living Trust, or the Proper Use of My Body 76

Acknowledgements 79