Finalist from The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize, 2021

Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars

by Mimi German

Scheduled Release Date: Mar 15, 2022

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What is the language of the streets, of the unhoused millions who inhabit them?

As a poet and an activist/advocate for the houseless, Mimi German has written poems that tell the stories of the unseen. Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars is a lyrical force as it translates the language of suffering, trauma, addiction, sorrow, love, and the fires of life & death. These poems are filled with a language you might not readily recognize—In the staccato breaks of thought and phrases that carry multiple meanings—to reveal the hidden, the underworld, and the shadows of the heart.  

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“What does it mean to be housed in this increasingly complex world? What does it mean to be houseless? Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars (formerly titled Eyes of Horse Hair) explores these questions with lyric, evocative constellations of images, where we see how lavender begs to the sky between the hours, and that shows—and evokes—so much, without having to be explicit. These brief poems reverberate beyond what is on the page, giving readers much to think on and feel long after the final page. Stunning music is scattered throughout all of these poems.

—Lisa Kwong, guest editor for The Hopper Poetry Prize