A debut collection featuring formally diverse poems that address
topics from misogyny and mental health to race and identity.
Alexis Sears's debut collection, Out of Order, is a collage of
unapologetic intimacy, risk-taking vulnerability, and unwavering candor.
A biracial millennial woman, Sears navigates the challenges of growing
out of girlhood and into womanhood with its potential dangers,
interrogating the male gaze, beauty standards, and confidence and
identity. Pop culture references run through the collection, with rock
icons David Bowie and Prince and poets like Kenneth Koch offering
windows into desire and adaptation. In these poems, Sears works through
heavy topics, such as loneliness, mental illness, chronic pain, the
legacies of race and racism, and the aftermath of a father's suicide. As
she writes, "I'm learning something every ravishing day / and none of it
is easy."
This young poet demonstrates an uncommon mastery of craft, writing in
forms including the sonnet redoublé, sestina, canzone, and villanelle.
With all her linguistic skills, Sears's work remains approachable,
offering readers a striking blend of honesty, humor, anguish, joy, and
surprise. Drawing influence from contemporary poets like Mark Jarman,
Erica Dawson, and Tiana Clark, Sears cuts a path of her own.
Out of Order was the 2021 winner of the Donald Justice Poetry Prize.
