The Constant Hum of Elsewhere by Jen Rouse coming soon!

Book Description

At the heart of The Constant Hum of Elsewhere is a conversation with the queen of confessional writing, Anne Sexton. These poems break open from the mind of a woman who is “never quite the right fit / for here or there.” Even in her own mind’s anguish, the speaker still positions herself as caretaker of those who should care for her, and Sexton becomes someone from whom she struggles to separate herself. Approaching midlife with no relief in sight, the speaker of this collection grapples with the construct of mental illness and challenges the language we use to mask it, challenges the efficacy of therapy, and addresses the struggle to arrive at or dismiss a culture of belief, hope, god.

Praise for The Constant Hum of Elsewhere

Vulnerable and darkly humorous, Jen Rouse’s The Constant Hum of Elsewhere flirts with the borders of madness in hallucinatory poems that dote on Anne Sexton, favor the color red, wrangle snakes, wander dream-like landscapes, and interrogate the faith we place in doctors, therapists, and lovers. Claiming the label “crazy,” Rouse’s speaker fears the unreliability of her own assessments even as she is starved for meaning: “I secretly look / for the good everywhere,” she admits, “and often find the fragile.” In this book, both the living and the dead inspire ambivalence and awaken desire, becoming mirrors that reflect back the speaker’s contradictory relationship to self: “If you are content, this / crazy wonders: are you / asking the right questions?” In these depths, “crazy” is not so crazy after all; the cultural script is flipped. At its core, this book is propelled by brilliant curiosity about what we deem healthy, tracking a mind that refuses a vapid existence or overly simplistic answers.

—Kimberly Ann Priest, winner of the Backwaters Prize in Poetry from the University of Nebraska Press for Wolves in Shells

Rather than try to outrun their influences, the oath-shakers, world-shifters, and myth-repairers in Jen Rouse's The Constant Hum of Elsewhere invoke their muses without fear. The ensuing dialogues smolder. Who but a poet singing under the star of Anne Sexton could translate "salt into water. / Blood into love"? If ever you have listened to a poem and longed to kiss it on the mouth, this book is waiting for you.

—Joshua Davis, author of Authentic Embellishments: Fragments of a Life Saved by Poetry

The Constant Hum of Elsewhere is a collection of many voices that all unite under the singularity of Rouse’s poetic voice. Rouse constantly surprises in this book, weaving fairytales and strange creatures into poems that are at once intimate and mythic. Rouse pulls us into scenes of pelicans and coyotes, chupacabras and dragons, succubi and vampires. We also hear from the likes of Cleopatra and Anne Sexton. All of this creates a book with decadently rich imagery, vast metaphors, and twists and turns that will keep you turning the page for more.

—Boston Gordon, author of Loose Bricks

Jen Rouse is the author of Fragments of  V, A Trickle of Bloom Becomes You, CAKE, Acid & Tender, and Riding with Anne Sexton. She Directs Cole Library and Center for Teaching and Learning at Cornell College.