{"product_id":"joy-is-my-middle-name-poems-hardcover","title":"Joy Is My Middle Name: Poems - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSasha Debevec-McKenney\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn her best imitation of a historian, poet Sasha Debevec-McKenney combs through the past. \u003cem\u003eJoy Is My Middle Name\u003c\/em\u003e is about crawling through your twenties and emerging into your thirties. Walking uneasily through cities and rural towns, talking about sex, race, womanhood, addiction, sobriety, consumerism, and pop culture, these poems pull at the edges of the performed self with ease.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis remarkable debut collection showcases Debevec-McKenney's intimate, assured, conversational voice. Full of stories, character, awkward silences, and actual jokes, \u003cem\u003eJoy Is My Middle Name\u003c\/em\u003e seamlessly traces the author's search for herself and examines how she gets in her own way, brings humor and lightness to rock-bottom moments, and considers the shamelessly girly as a serious cultural artifact.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll the while, Debevec-McKenney uses her own life to get revenge on the version of American history we're taught in school. She brilliantly weaves together the political and the personal, maps the interior onto the exterior, and vice versa. Humble, giddy, ridiculous, bold, deep, empathetic, difficult, ragged, strange, erratic, and lithe, \u003cem\u003eJoy Is My Middle Name\u003c\/em\u003e is the most open conversation with your greatest friend, over the best dinner, the buzz of life's perfect--and not-so-perfect--moments funneled onto the page.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"My life changed\u003cbr\u003e when I found out what I could do\u003cbr\u003e with my mouth. I licked\u003cbr\u003e it all up, thirsty as any lifelong learner, \u003cbr\u003e any other lover of the last drop, \u003cbr\u003e swallowing everything but\u003cbr\u003e what I had to say.\"\u003cbr\u003e --from \"WHEN I MET SHARON OLDS SHE TOLD ME TO WRITE A POEM ABOUT LBJ'S PENIS\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 120\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.56 x 8.44 x 6.34 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 05, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52731093483827,"sku":"9781324110675","price":33.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/6iyah_rtOm9781324110675.webp?v=1763848674","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/products\/joy-is-my-middle-name-poems-hardcover","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}