Death Styles

A record of daily bewilderments and accidental concessions to hope after a momentous loss, featuring John Waters, Divine, and Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria (the 'Swan King'), in this powerful follow-up to Joyelle McSweeney's award-winning collection Toxicon & Arachne

'McSweeney is one of our most dynamic poets' Nick Ropatrazone, The Millions

'I've never read anything by Joyelle McSweeney that wasn't totally exciting' Dennis Cooper

One of LitHub's Most Anticipated Books for 2024

In this follow-up to her award-winning collection, Toxicon and Arachne, Joyelle McSweeney proposes a link between style and survival, even in the gravest of circumstances. Setting herself the task of writing a poem a day and accepting a single icon as her starting point, however unlikely - River Phoenix, Mary Magdalene, a backyard skunk - McSweeney follows each inspiration to the point of exhaustion and makes it through each difficult day.

In frank, mesmeric lyrics, Death Styles navigates the opposing forces of survival and grief, finding a way to press against death's interface, to step the wrong way out of the grave.