Teresa K. Miller, poet and essayist

I’m elated to share this cover with you:

I’ve heard horror stories about covers, but so far I’m three for three. The photograph is by the mega-talented Brian Adams of Alaska, and I love what Penguin did with the design, which resonates with the poems on multiple levels. Here’s a recent interview with Adams.

And now it’s time for the cake reveal—my partner made this for me back in August, when I got the National Poetry Series notification but had to wait a month to share the news:

May you, too, find the kind of love that painstakingly traces, cuts, and pins parchment paper to a coffee-chocolate cake made from an old Pennsylvania Deutsch family recipe.

The cake artist, aka Gregory Giles, is a musician and writer—we’ve collaborated on a bunch of film essays at this point. Last week his band, 20 Minute Loop, got a shoutout from Ratboys on Bandcamp: “Whenever I remember that [20 Minute Loop’s Yawn + House = Explosion] exists, I’m like, ‘Yes! It’s still there! And just as great as I remembered!’” I couldn’t agree more—getting hooked on this record is what made me want to get to know Greg. You can read the full write-up and listen to the album here.

Finally, some generous words on Borderline Fortune from poet Laura Walker:

I originally met Laura during graduate school at Mills College, when I attended one of her student readings. Years later, she taught my first book, sped, in her UC Berkeley Extension class “Poets Studied & in Conversation.” She has a new collection, psalmbook, forthcoming from Apogee Press this summer.

Borderline Fortune debuts October 5—if you’re ready to preorder a copy, my hometown’s Elliott Bay Book Company has you covered.