“The History of Chickpeas” by Laraine Seidl
Long ago and far away, Laraine Seidl was born in the city of Cleveland and grew up in the enchanted land of Parma, Ohio. She is currently living in Columbus with her cat Zoe, but as she considers herself a nomadic fashionista, she will most likely relocate in the near future. Outside of writing, she also enjoys photography and expressing herself through painting using acrylics. She spends her free time obsessively listening to music online and discovering new bands, reading, shopping for the latest pair of shoes to add to her collection, talking to her Mom on the phone, and collecting vintage glassware.
“Reading Laraine Seidl’s poetry is like kneeling on the fire escape outside her window, peeking in through her curtains at the most raw and intimate parts of her life; the reader will feel wrong for watching, but won’t be able to turn their eyes away. Unashamedly honest in her own quirky way, Seidl pulls the scabs off her wounds and writes the truth of the blood that seeps out, often getting right down to the bone. Sometimes raw and festering, sometimes surreal and silly, occasionally pornographic, Seidl’s poems explore the life of a young woman stuck playing poker with the cards life deals her, and the reader is left knowing that somehow she’s being cheated, but championing the fact that she’s stashed a few aces up her skirt hem for just such an emergency and the perfect pair of shoes to distract anyone who might be looking.” –Joshua Gage, author of “Breaths”
“Laraine Seidl’s poetry wears both the scars and the badges of honor that come with experience. A stranger in her own world, this poet feels a victim to fate and longs to escape to a parallel universe where the world is not so dark. Many pieces in this chapbook are poignant, erotically charged, and emotionally brutal. They speak to every woman who is ‘surrounded by water but dying of thirst.'” –Kristie LeVangie, author of “Libidacoria: In a Plain Brown Wrapper”