'I Gave Birth To All The Ghosts Here' by Lyd Havens

"if, in this story, I am supposed to be Samson, then
let me be the pair of scissors too"

Lyd Havens is a poet, performer and organizer originally from Tucson, Arizona. Their work has previously been published or is forthcoming in Winter Tangerine, Cosmonauts Avenue, and Glass: A Journal of Poetry, among others. They are the author of Survive Like the Water (Rising Phoenix Press, 2017), and the self-published chapbooks Eight of Resilience and peony summer (2018). Lyd is currently a second-year undergraduate at Boise State University, and one of the main organizers of the Boise Poetry Slam.

[ cover art by Shay Alexi ]
[ limited edition print run of 125 copies ]

We begin with a question "I want a healthy coping / mechanism that still allows me to be / heard. Where do I find something like that?" and the search begins as the poet steps into a voice that is stepping into every light refracting from this prism in the center of their chest. this is giving birth to all one's ghosts. giving them voice, forms, breaks, breadth and breath. names are praised and names are named. the self is extracted from the darkness and the self endures. Havens' ghosts light the way ahead to help us see. To make us seen.
–Jess Rizkallah, author of the magic my body becomes (University of Arkansas Press)

Like a howl through a crowded room, this collection draws attention, an urgency unconcerned with politeness. An honest, youthful exploration of personal history and the queer body, I Gave Birth to All the Ghosts Here builds a world and invites you in. Lyd Havens is special, plain and simple. They are truly an artist to watch.
–Clementine von Radics, In A Dream You Saw A Way To Survive