Product details
- ISBN 9781961209718
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 01 Dec 2026
- Publisher: Tupelo Press, Incorporated
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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A collection of poems envisioned as a magic wardrobe of mirrors, vast with ocean and meadow, revealing reflections of the muses, a deer woman, and a sea-monster lover.
Forever Mistaken for Ourselves tells a story of transformations. Iron dresses, veils nailed to an hourglass, and a sex-changing flower/human defy or define a woman and her place in daily life and history. Queen Anne's black lace leaves holes open for a ghost. Never just coy, these characters and artifacts get up and do battle with complacency, in an all too often misogynistic world. Beasts come and go through the mirrors, a fish-man breaking through to deliver a whole-body kiss to a woman. Forests rise, and lawns “lean lethargies” to hold the reflected images of the speakers. Is there a confirmation of existence? “If she is—a silver say-so.”
Jenny Grassl is a poet and visual artist. Her poems have appeared in Poetry International, Tupelo Quarterly, Bennington Review, Lana Turner Journal, Heavy Feather Review, Lit, The Grolier Prize, Ocean State Review, Laurel Review, and elsewhere, including The Boston Review, where she was a runner-up for the annual prize, selected by Mary Jo Bang. She is the author of Magicholia and Forever Mistaken for Ourselves, and her artwork has been exhibited widely, including at the Joyce Goldstein Gallery, Fort Point Arts Community Gallery, and Janapa Gallery. She received her BFA in photography from Rhode Island School of Design, her MFA in creative writing from Bennington Writing Seminars, and her soul degree from Lucie Brock-Broido's Sargent St. Workshop. Originally from Collegeville, Pennsylvania, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
