Beaut: Interconnected Narrative Poetry

Through a collection of 11 interconnected narrative poems, Ann Kammerer presents the emotional erosion of an American family in the 1960s. Told through the eyes of a child, Beaut presents an angry and resentful wife who has grown tired of her husband’s crass criticisms of her family, even though she despises her own mother. Drawing on journalistic style, Kammerer takes readers to the harsh truth of the characters’ lives, played out through every self-medicating drink, cigarette, and argument. Set within an industrial, once-prosperous region in decline, Beaut employs the hopeful metaphors of old cars and baseball to examine American ideals and ambition.

Ann Kammerer lives in Oak Park, Illinois, having recently moved from her home state of Michigan with her husband and daughter. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Fictive Dream, One Art, Bright Flash Literary Review, Open Arts Forum, The Ekphrastic Review, The Thoughtful Dog, among others, and anthologies by Crow Woods Publishing and Querencia Press. She received top honors in contests by Crow Woods and Current Magazine, and she made the short list for several others sponsored by literary magazines. Her chapbook collections of narrative poetry include Yesterday’s Playlist (Bottlecap Press, 2023), Beaut (Kelsay Books, 2024), and Friends Once There (Impspired, 2024).

Paperback: 60 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (April 18, 2024)