smile or else

by Chanel Brenner

A poetic journey through the unimaginable labyrinth that is the death of a child.

64 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Chanel Brenner was born in Redondo Beach, California. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in Poet Lore, Rattle, Cultural Weekly, Diverse Voices Quarterly, Glassworks, The Coachella Review, Foliate Oak, Caveat Lector, and others. Her poem, “What Would Wislawa Szymborska Do?,” was displayed at the James Whitcomb Riley Museum in Indianapolis; and her poem, “July 28th, 2012” won first prize in The Write Place At the Write Time’s contest, judged by Ellen Bass. She was a finalist in the 2013 Rattle Poetry Prize for “A Poem for Women Who Don’t Want Children.” She is a long-time member of the Los Angeles Poets and Writers Collective and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Lee, and son, Desmond. Her collection of poems about the death of her six-year-old son, Riley, will be published by Silver Birch Press in October of 2014.

Reviews

[Madeline Sharples · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful writing about the death of a young son. Each poem is more powerful than the last. A hard and horrific subject handled with complete love and caring.