MISEDUCATION
by Aerik Francis
32 pages. 5.5″ x 7.” May, 2023. $10. NDR.

Winner of the 11th Annual New Delta Review Chapbook Contest.
Selected by Dorothy Chan

“‘This is the future’ is what I kept saying to myself while reading Aerik Francis’ MISEDUCATION. This is a radical contemporary love letter to the queer BIPOC lineage that reminds us of the importance of community, the expansiveness of family, and of course, the power of both resilience and resistance in taking back what is rightfully ours. Francis’ speaker carries the greatest internal strength through this high confrontation and abolishment of irrelevant canonical standards, such as “objective beauty.” I’ve been waiting for this collection. I’m in awe of what Francis does to language, through its decolonization, as well as its infinite innovation. Through textures and hybridity, their voice has simultaneously redefined what a collection can do, while paying homage to the critical voices who came before them. Francis is an artist who will keep pushing poetry anew—there are obviously limitations—this is an important book.”

—Dorothy Chan, author of five poetry collections including BABE (Diode Editions, 2021), Assistant Professor of English at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and cofounder of Honey Literary

For a preview, check out this excerpt, which was published in our 12.2 issue.