Jaydn Dewald Libri

This debut collection delves into the intricate dynamics of individuality versus community and the complexities of queerness within a traditional family framework. Through obsessive poetic sequences, the speaker-narrators confront Western art's giants and challenge the heteronormative values that often dominate it. The work raises profound questions about the power of imagination to foster intimacy, love, and impact history, while also contemplating the potential isolation that creative expression can bring.

Exploring the themes of love and loss, Jaydn DeWald's pamphlet presents a collection of poignant sketches reflecting on grief. The work contrasts incantations with poetry and rituals with songs, inviting readers to consider the boundaries between these forms. Through evocative imagery and a blend of established and novel poetic structures, it captures the transformative power of language and the healing potential of expression in the face of darkness.

Gathering together shards of autobiography, poetry, and critical commentary on music and writing, Sheets of Sound evokes DeWald's experiences as a musician and poet, father and teacher, movie-lover and teenage skater. This debut collection of essays-by turns lyric and philosophic-reflects on jazz improvisation, poetic constraints, writing pedagogy, and the "queer art of failure" (Jack Halberstam), offering fresh perspectives on artists as various as Ellen Douglas, Nicole Mitchell, and Tomoka Shibasaki.