Regaining Unconsciousness
Poems
by Harryette Mullen
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Pub Date Aug 05 2025 | Archive Date Jul 31 2025
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Description
Only legendary poet Harryette Mullen could make a book of our time’s dire crises this much fun to read
Harryette Mullen is one of contemporary poetry’s most influential voices, for her inventive language play, keen wit, formal experimentation, and pointed critique of American culture. In Regaining Unconsciousness, her first new collection in twelve years, Mullen confronts the imminent dangers of our present to sound an alarm for our future, to wake us out of our complicity and despondency: Can we, even still, find our way to our unconscious selves, beyond our capacity to harm, subdue, and consume?
In eleven taut sections written in the eleventh hour of our collective being, these poems address climate change, corporate greed, racist violence, artificial intelligence, the pollution of our oceans, individualism at the cost of mutual wellness, and the consequences of not addressing these pressing issues. Mullen imagines, as we must, our apocalypse, and yet, in an astounding feat, she does so with playfulness and wry referentiality that make these poems surprisingly buoyant, funny, and readable. Our end may be inevitable, Mullen admits, but maybe we begin with gratitude.
Advance Praise
“This wildly imaginative work speaks to the present times with a powerful urgency.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Regaining Unconsciousness is just the poetry collection we need for an unstable, unpredictable world. Harryette Mullen treats us to a characteristically rich feast of sonic surprises and wicked wordplay . . . but be forewarned: some of these poems have ‘pointy teeth’ and real bite.”—Evie Shockley
“Harryette Mullen, lexical genius she is, still ain’t playing even when she plays, ears attuned to ruin’s rubato, eyes on a burning city on a burning world. And she is unamused.”—Douglas Kearney
“One of our most influential poets, Harryette Mullen is an American original, as indispensable as she is uncompromising, whose cold comforts offer a bracing antidote to these overheated times.”—Monica Youn
“Regaining Unconsciousness unfolds like wisdoms written on the walls of a maze of mirrors. . . . No poet is more mercurial while frank, more understated while exacting, or more enlightened while inquisitive. This book is every bit as virtuosic and singular as the great Harryette Mullen.”—Terrance Hayes
Marketing Plan
National media outreach
Author events in New York and San Francisco
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National media outreach
Author events in New York and San Francisco
Bookseller outreach campaign
Academic and library marketing
Targeted digital advertising
Social media promotion
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781644453490 |
| PRICE | $18.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 160 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Mariah F, Reviewer
Love a poetry collection that surpasses expectations and finds the heart of their narrative through experimental forms, prose poems, and a passion for writing. This is a loud collection that creates a space for marginalized voices to be heard from poem to poem. If the cover does not convince you then their enticing lyrical writing should be enough reason to dive into the abyss with this one. These are poems with subjects and the content related to them is deep, but they are also metaphors for how society subjects people to racism, rigid gender constructs, and hateful political rhetoric.
The prose poetry is a persistent form in this collection, and it really gave the author a format to express the way society has repressed their voice. This also amplifies the voices of their community ensuring that this message must be heard. Highlighting racial disparities and having the audience sit and listen to really soak in the words. The diction really illuminates the struggles and highlights where the message needs to be listened to the most.
Love the metaphors of weather and the forecast that is not just about weather patterns and climate change. It’s a forecast of society and the consequences of behaviors. “Weathering Hate” explores the way dangerous rhetoric has impaired society and set society back due to the inclement persistent push of misinformation in recent times. The line break in “Wind is Pink” really constructs the emotional impact from the actions mentioned in such a short poem. Read this thrice to really soak it in.
The hints of vegan discussion and activism in “Luvtofu” is a poem about tofu. But how else can we apply to the versatility of the facets of our personality trying to dissuade freedom of expression? Think about that as you read this through. Then we have “Mermaid of Palmares” that expresses the thirst we have for something more and something better than the state we are given. These are just a few shout outs to the myriad fabulous poems in this collection that make tidal waves of sound.
This collection is a well organized streamline of thoughts through experimental poetry forms, prose poetry, and lyrical forms that really tie the message of racial and social injustices occurring today. This is my favorite future release of poetry thus far. Thank you NetGalley and Greywolf Press for this advanced digital copy and an opportunity to leave an honest review!
