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Poetry

Foothills

A slimbook of twenty eight poems by Zoe Marie Bel. This special edition also features two short love stories, as well as an essay about resilience written in mid-pandemic Paris.

  • Form: Poetry (with a fiction and essay supplement)
  • Specification: Paperback, 82 pages
  • Published: February 1st 2024
  • Purchase from: Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org, Walmart, and select bookstores in the United States (full list below); independent bookstores worldwide (later in the year); Amazon worldwide (now).
  • ISBN: 978-2-9591921-0-4
  • RRP: US $8.95 · GB £7.00 · EUR €8.00

*Bookstore list will continually grow throughout 2024

The Blurb

Twenty eight poems, each one exploring love without safety equipment and reporting back on the views from up there.

'Foothills' is a book of love poetry with a difference: its interest in love is all-terrain. So, yes, there are romantic pieces inside - but you'll also find contemplations of family and friendship. What's more, 'Foothills' does not pretend that love is all puppies and rainbows. Puppies dry-hump your slippers, and gawking at rainbows causes car accidents... 'Foothills' knows this. So come on in for some real talk about love, knowing as you do that this book is ultimately a believer (and probably so are you).

This special edition of 'Foothills' also features two short love stories, as well as 'Memo', a Thanksgiving poem and essay about resilience that was written in mid-pandemic Paris and inspired by the work of Jack Gilbert.

*Bookstore list will continually grow throughout 2024

A Few Words With The Author, Zoe Marie Bel

Above: Zoe Marie Bel, an avid mountaineer, at the peak of... well, not exactly a foothill.

  • You've called this book a poetry 'slimbook'. What's the thinking there?
  • The more established word for a short collection of poetry is a 'chapbook'. But if I liked using established words for things, I probably wouldn't be a poet. I wanted a fresh word that emphasized not only the brevity of my book but also its lightweight portability. At just 6 ounces, 'Foothills' is significantly lighter than a mobile phone, and can be slipped into a tote bag, airplane seat pocket, beach towel, or rocket pack (hey, whatever your weekend plans are). I've long been passionate about making poetry accessible and transportable.
  • Why is the book called 'Foothills'?
  • That's the title of one of the leading poems (or part of its title, at least), and the simplicity of both that poem and the title appealed to me. There's also the fact that 'Foothills' is a selection of poems from a larger work (my full-length collection 'Passengers', presently in its final stages), so the concept of low peaks that ultimately lead to larger ones felt apt. Finally, I'm a huge fan of mountains (indeed, I write this in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles).
  • 'Foothills' contains poems, of course, but there's also two short stories and an essay. What's holding all this material together?
  • The simple answer is love. That's the overarching theme of the book. But if that has you rolling your eyes and loading up 'Saw VI: Hemorrhage', hang on a minute. The truth is: I feel you. I'm not myself a fan of the romance genre - not one bit. I'd sooner bathe in a tub full of tadpoles than read Nicholas Sparks. And yet an awful lot of what I write is some sort of coded or off-beat love story. I guess you could call me a sonneteer for cynics. (The less elevated term for this is 'f*ckboi'.) So, yes, I serve up love, but with irreverence much of the time, to circumnavigate my own boundaries. (Think of the kid who will only eat carrots if they're shaped like machine guns.)
  • Isn't it weird to be a poet and yet a cynic about romance?
  • Not at all. Most poets in history were loners, creeps or nancy boys with no clue how to talk to women. The rest died young of syphilis. So cynicism in this space feels... healthy, like self-preservation. (Sure, I'm kidding... kind of.)
  • When were these poems written?
  • The twenty eight poems (twenty nine, if you include 'Memo') were all written in the last seven years. I write fewer than ten poems a year, and can generally tell straightaway if a poem is a clunker. If it's not an obvious turd, I will then work on a poem for a year or more, circling back with fresh eyes every few months. So what you're holding in your hands can reasonably be called highly distilled!
  • Some of your poems seem like song lyrics?
  • I get that reaction a lot. Walter Pater said, "All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music." Nowhere does that feel more true to me than in a poem. Poetry began as an oral tradition, back in pre-manuscript times when words had to be carried around by memory alone. One way to make something memorable was to make it beautiful-sounding, just like music. So I do think of poems as a loose kind of sheet music, perhaps sheet music whose ink has run a little in the rain. (Don't leave sheet music too close to that ajar window, folks.) The key notes are discernible, but ultimately every poem invites improvisation from the reader as he, she or they plays the words in their mind. As someone who loves music but not prescription, that suits me just fine.

About The Author

Zoe Marie Bel is a writer of fiction and poetry, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Review, Australian Book Review, Mystery Tribune, and more. New fiction is forthcoming in Short Edition (May 2024). She was educated in English Literature at Oxford University, and in real talk at various bus stops and laundromats around the world, particularly those of Los Angeles. Foothills is her debut book of poetry, a slimbook intended as a tasting plate for new readers. Follow news and read online pieces at zoemariebel.com.

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