Poet Kate Baer narrates her collection of erasure poems with humor, warmth, and tenderness. The poems, which explore womahood, sexism, Internet culture, desire, and more, are composed from online messages Baer has received, both positive and negative. Her ability to extract wise, compassionate, and beautiful poems even out of hateful notes is truly extraordinary. The audiobook includes both the original messages and Baer’s poems. When reading the messages, she varies her voice, often infusing it with anger, sarcasm, passion, or gratitude, depending on the sender. She delivers the poems in a quieter, more reverent tone, leaving plenty of time between each word or line to represent the empty space. This short audiobook is worth every moment; it’s like listening to Baer unearth a series of remarkable treasures. L.S. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
I Hope This Finds You Well: Poems
I Hope This Finds You Well: Poems
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Overview
It is a rare treat to get a poet to follow up one lovely book with another two years in a row. Here we have just that as Kate Baer follows up last year’s What Kind of Woman with I Hope This Finds You Well — a collaborative effort with author and fans. We love that the idea of poetry encapsulated here is dialogue.
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller What Kind of Woman returns with a collection of erasure poems created from notes she received from followers, supporters and detractors-an artform that reclaims the vitriol from online trolls and inspires readers to transform what is ugly or painful in their own lives into something beautiful.
“I'm sure you could benefit from jumping on a treadmill”
“Women WANT a male leader . . . It's honest to god the basic human playbook”
These are some of the thousands of messages that Kate Baer has received online. Like countless other writers-particularly women-with profiles on the internet, as Kate's online presence grew, so did the darker messages crowding her inbox. These missives from strangers have ranged from “advice” and opinions to outright harassment.
At first, these messages resulted in an immediate delete and block. Until, on a whim, Kate decided to transform the cruelty into art, using it to create fresh and intriguing poems. These pieces, along with ones made from notes of gratitude and love, as well as from the words of public figures, have become some of her most beloved work.
I Hope This Finds You Well is drawn from those works: a book of poetry birthed in the darkness of the internet that offers light and hope. By cleverly building on the harsh negativity and hate women often receive-and combining it with heartwarming messages of support, gratitude, and connection, Kate Baer offers us a lesson in empowerment, showing how we too can turn bitterness into beauty.
Editorial Reviews
11/15/2021
Baer (What Kind of Woman Are You) offers an earnest and original sophomore collection of erasure poems. Baer collected the countless responses to her blogs and social media posts, which ranged from obscene attacks to ardent appreciation. Treating pieces authored by those she calls "Strangers on the Internet" as raw material, the poet used a "black out" technique to remove words and discover hidden poems therein. A misogynist rant (e.g., "women WANT a male leader") is reduced to "read a book." A letter from a fan ("thank you for your emotional labor and for your words") gives rise to "women have a life to live. I want that for you." The transcript of Trump's notorious pussy-grabbing comment becomes "women—don't wait. You can do anything. You can do anything." Some readers will delight in wordplay that twists an opinion into its opposite or enhances a fully formed idea. Others may grow restless, longing for more invention. (Nov.)
"If you want your breath to catch and your heart to stop, turn to Kate Baer." — Joanna Goddard, Cup of Jo
"Baer is a different kind of Instagram poet, not only in that her poems convey a depth of emotion more cutting than the spare, self-help word-art characteristic of so many social media–propelled poet phenomena. But she also distinguishes herself by acknowledging the self-seriousness of the genre (particularly among those who are their own greatest promoters) and gently poking a hole in it." — Vogue
“Author and poet Kate Baer rose to stardom with her beautiful and insightful number-one New York Times best-selling 2020 poetry collection, What Kind of Woman, but it is the very concept of her latest book of poems that makes I Hope This Finds You Well just straight-up brilliant. A collection of “erasure poems,” the book sees Baer sifting through the thousands of messages she receives online via direct messages, social-media replies, and emails to then turn them into pointed rebuttals, biting retorts, and clever reconsiderations. Like turning straw into gold, Baer tosses her inbox on the spinning wheel and weaves a collection of poems that will speak to anyone who has spent even a few moments on social media. Instant “like.” — Shondaland
"Baer is a different kind of Instagram poet, not only in that her poems convey a depth of emotion more cutting than the spare, self-help word-art characteristic of so many social media–propelled poet phenomena. But she also distinguishes herself by acknowledging the self-seriousness of the genre (particularly among those who are their own greatest promoters) and gently poking a hole in it."
Author and poet Kate Baer rose to stardom with her beautiful and insightful number-one New York Times best-selling 2020 poetry collection, What Kind of Woman, but it is the very concept of her latest book of poems that makes I Hope This Finds You Well just straight-up brilliant. A collection of “erasure poems,” the book sees Baer sifting through the thousands of messages she receives online via direct messages, social-media replies, and emails to then turn them into pointed rebuttals, biting retorts, and clever reconsiderations. Like turning straw into gold, Baer tosses her inbox on the spinning wheel and weaves a collection of poems that will speak to anyone who has spent even a few moments on social media. Instant “like.”
"If you want your breath to catch and your heart to stop, turn to Kate Baer."
Poet Kate Baer narrates her collection of erasure poems with humor, warmth, and tenderness. The poems, which explore womahood, sexism, Internet culture, desire, and more, are composed from online messages Baer has received, both positive and negative. Her ability to extract wise, compassionate, and beautiful poems even out of hateful notes is truly extraordinary. The audiobook includes both the original messages and Baer’s poems. When reading the messages, she varies her voice, often infusing it with anger, sarcasm, passion, or gratitude, depending on the sender. She delivers the poems in a quieter, more reverent tone, leaving plenty of time between each word or line to represent the empty space. This short audiobook is worth every moment; it’s like listening to Baer unearth a series of remarkable treasures. L.S. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940177445557 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Publication date: | 11/09/2021 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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