Traum/A by JP Seabright

About the book: Traum/A is an abecedarian catalogue of experimental, visual and prose poetry on the causes and symptoms of trauma. Reflecting both the light and dark of human experience, the work veers from harrowing to honesty and humour.

About the author: JP Seabright (she/they) is a queer disabled writer living in London, UK. They have three pamphlets published: Fragments from Before the Fall: An Anthology of Post-Anthropocene Poetry (Beir Bua Press, 2021), No Holds Barred (Lupercalia Press, 2022) and the collaboration GenderFux (Nine Pens Press, 2022). The microchap Be∞Cause is available from Ghost City Press, and MACHINATIONS, an experimental collaborative work, is out winter 2022 from Trickhouse Press. JP is an Editor of Full House Literary, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. More info at jpseabright.com and via Twitter @errormessage.

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“The opposite of shame, the opposite of fear, this unapologetic series of experimental poetics by JP Seabright explores Trauma through a mangling of the page, through word play, and through stark visual manifestations that bear witness to past experience and present effect. The result is something uncomfortably necessary. It is the reforging of the self in a dark fire, a spirit of reclamation that refuses to be ignored. In this instance, Traum/A is the sacrifice of the author, one of incredible bravery, and one that lets all survivors know that they are not alone in this cruel world” —Stuart McPherson, author of Obligate Carnivore (Broken Sleep Books 2021)

“In the opening piece of JP Seabright’s latest collection, Traum/A, they remind us that the majority of that word, “traum,” is the German one for “dream.” And much like a dreamscape, Seabright voices the similarly full and startling spectrum — with all its whimsical leaps, impossible juxtapositions, and unpredictable returnings — that is the experiencing, reexperiencing, processing, and retaining of trauma. Seabright’s language and form within this experimental abecedarian hybrid work explores the strange territory woundedness forges between the conscious and subconscious where the brain sometimes stops making logical sense and courts another type, one that tells us the truths we may not want to hear in ways we understand all too well. “There are too many words    there are no words,” Seabright writes and rewrites in “there is a hole in the centre of everything,” in just one of many paradoxical yet wholly accurate embodiments — and em-mind-iments — of the survivorship experience in this chapbook that will leave you entranced.” —Raegen Pietrucha, author of Head of a Gorgon and An Animal I Can’t Name, winner of the 2015 Two of Cups Press Prize

“Traum/A is an insightful, engaging and masterful experimental collection navigating the origin and symptoms of trauma and exploring societal expectations through the use of visceral and innovative poetry, prose and unique and dynamic artistic mediums. Taking the form of an abecedarian catalogue, JP Seabright is adept at word play and articulating thought processes and complexity of emotion through the use of different and original techniques. Pushing the boundaries on what we're allowed to talk about, powerfully using erasure of their own poetry to demonstrate the reoccurrence of trauma, Seabright skilfully utilises sharp wit to take pieces to another level; intelligent, raw, gut-wrenching, hopeful and humorous, an outstanding collection.” —Louise Mather, author of The Dredging of Rituals and editor of Acropolis Journal

“JP's collection explores trauma in ways that are undoubtedly raw and shattering, yet we also have moments of release. At many times, this collection is like a conversation: between past and present, between fragments and familiarity, between heavy moments, hidden moments, intimate moments. But it is also between author and reader, and Traum/A has pieces that provide points of connectivity that makes this collection an opportunity for open reflection.” —Leia Butler, Founder and EIC of Full House Literary, author of Tear and Share (Broken Sleep Books, 2021)