For two years, I worked on what I thought was a full-length book about Anne Carson’s novel-in-poems, Autobiography of Red. It was a massive, sprawling project, hybrid in nature, blending lyric essay, scholarly research and theory, with poetry. Then, slowly, I came to realize that my book should be shorter, perhaps the length of a novella. Then, after many more months of revision, this novella-length thing became a very long essay. Sometimes revision is a matter of gradually coming to terms with one’s ego; it’s a matter of stepping aside, so that the work-in-progress can tell you what the piece needs to be. It was in that more condensed form that “Red Monsters” found its home at The New England Review, my very favorite journal.

“Red Monsters” is perhaps my most ambitious essay to date. It’s a close reading, a personal essay, and an intimate confession all in one. “Red Monsters” speaks about my own relationship with queerness, something I’ve almost never addressed in my writing. It feels like an important step in my development as a writer of prose. I also believe that it will form the basis of a new book of essays, pieces that engage with monstrousness and that consider how monsters teach us to accept the frightening parts of ourselves.

I’m so excited about this essay. I hope it makes its fierce mark in the world. In the meantime, you can read more about the current issue of The New England Review here.