benediction is a poetry collection & mini memoir
by ollie pierce
"a reflection on a weird, intense past with religion and by extension god and being alive and belonging anywhere- a collage of feelings and memories and bible stories"
-1
i first had the notion to create this collection in spring of this year when, while pulling together a few of my favorite pieces for student literary submissions, i realized that a lot of my writing gravitates towards religious imagery and themes and experiences. a few pieces like the garden and margo and the serpent have been with me for a while. i came back to writing consistently after graduation and turns out that i have a whole lot to say about god! and the whole bizzarro belief system i used to build my whole world around.
i wrote a lot of this book over the summer, which was a gruesome process of digging up a lot of old memories and stuff i don’t always like to fixate on. the resulting collection is a reflection on a weird, intense past with religion and by extension my relationship with god and being alive and belonging anywhere- a collage of feelings and memories and bible stories. this is not everything i’ll ever have to say about it or even everything i have to say right now. but it’s what i wanted to share.
getting older, i notice i am able to look back and feel more sentimental, a mix of good and bad things about the way i grew up - more than i was even a few years ago. and the hurt seems a lot further away. still, i think it’s important to say that- even though this collection doesn't focus too much on the bad- there was a lot of it! and we barely made it out alive. but you can miss anywhere and anyone.
if you give it enough time.
benediction is in new york city bookstores!
☆ find copies at these local spots ☆
Quimby's Bookstore in Williamsburg
536 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Hive Mind Books in Bushwick
219 Irving Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11237
Word Bookstore in Greenpoint
126 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY 11222
128 pages - $15 paperback
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