Metadata, by Callie B. Dean

Prose poetry, chapbook, 24 pages, from Bottlecap Features. In a world where supercomputers and large language models process billions of bits of data every day, Metadata reflects on the role of technology in modern society. Its short, surreal, and sometimes absurd prose poems highlight the ways that technology can foster both connection and disconnection. Inspired as much by spreadsheets and datasets as by bumblebees and tree rings, this collection asks big questions about humanity and transcendence within each small, quirky block of text. Metadata is Callie B. Dean’s first chapbook. The prose poems in this collection were commissioned by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council through its annual Critical Mass exhibition. In spring of 2025, these poems appeared as part of an interactive installation of poetry and data visualizations, entitled Data Is Poetry, at Artspace gallery in Shreveport, Louisiana. Callie B. Dean is a writer, musician, and program evaluator living in Shreveport, Louisiana. She serves as an editorial assistant for Literary Mama and blogs for the STEM Tuesday team at From the Mixed-Up Files . . . of Middle-Grade Authors. Her essays and poetry have been published at Coffee + Crumbs, JMWW, Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, and In Short Journal, among others. Her first children’s book, Marvelous Mistakes: Accidents That Made History, will launch in October 2026.