Buried and Blossoming, by Shannon McNicholas

Poetry, chapbook, 40 pages, from Bottlecap Features. Shannon McNicholas’s debut chapbook, Buried and Blossoming, is a memoir written in poetry, a bildungsroman, a tale of trauma and triumph. It is the story of her life, told in the context of her mother’s open heart surgery–beginning to end. McNicholas’s poetry has been described as rural and queer. McNicholas uses a variety of poetic forms and lyrical free verse to get her point across–point being, every story is shaped by experiences, people are who they are because of both their difficult and delightful experiences. McNicholas celebrates both the journey and the destination. This chapbook does not shy away from trauma, it treats trauma with the respect and bluntness it deserves. Shannon McNicholas has been described as a social worker, a farmer, a poet, strange and deeply empathetic. She believes that nothing is straightforward. Shannon lives in Morgantown, WV with her partner and a zoo of cats and dogs. She has previously been published in Yellow Arrow Journal and Neologism Poetry among other independent journals.