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The Inevitable
The Inevitable is an exploration of what it means to be a vulnerable body living in a hard and violent world. Through a diptych of poetic prose narratives, it leans in close to examine the ways we are all violent beings, the ways we participate in destructive tendencies. How might we respond to being invaded? How do we romanticize brutality? The story of a prophetic infestation of moths intersects with a Magical Realist tale of young boys, wildfires, and black holes. And in the crossroads of all these pieces, a compass begins to form, illuminating the unavoidable directions violence takes in our lives—"the inevitability of certain trajectories."
Early praise for The
“Never has death, violence, and destruction felt so quiet. Within the pages of The Inevitable, Jade Lascelles gives power to the minute observation of the quotidian. Through luminous and crystalline prose, each detail builds upon the other like a pile of dead and dusty moths in a windowsill or a spark that catches a dry leaf that sets everything on fire. These subtly connected narratives provide a lucid understanding of what it means to observe one’s own transformation—one that is redolent with the terrible beauty inevitable from such an experience. These are stories that linger and hum with enchantment.”
—Sara Veglahn, author of The Mayflies and The Ladies
“Lascelles begins The Inevitable with the premise that the fabric of the blank page is the light upon which moths gnaw. Her poetics opens a mouth of moths, fluttering toward utterance, toward the light of day, toward death. The book’s second and final allegorical essay/poem moves through the conversation of consumption from the element of dust toward the element of fire. In both pieces, the mouth is our hinge point, the place of comingling, of creation and destruction, of history, of allegory, of elegy, the door to the haunted house of our human perception.”
—Andrea Rexilius, author of Sister Urn
“A woman contemplates ‘the pattern of terrible things waiting to drown her.’ A boy comes to grasp ‘the inevitability of certain trajectories.’ Meanwhile, dead moths pile up. Sticks scatter on the ground. Subtle and satisfying, The Inevitable moves through these parables of male violence towards unexpected ends. Lascelles is a deft guide in this troubled and troubling terrain, insistently holding space for our own illumination.”
—Erik Anderson, author of Bird
“Deeply expressive, visceral, and delightfully macabre, this little book is a gem. Lascelles’s exploration of desire, violence, and personal suffering is startling in its attention to the human interior. Like a dancer, the poet slips between worlds—delicate and brutal, quiet and insistent, shadowy and illuminated—weaving threads of duende, feminism, duality, and magical realism into what is truly a work of art.”
—Dani Barnhart, co-editor of Women of Poems for a New Feminism
Early praise for The
“Never has death, violence, and destruction felt so quiet. Within the pages of The Inevitable, Jade Lascelles gives power to the minute observation of the quotidian. Through luminous and crystalline prose, each detail builds upon the other like a pile of dead and dusty moths in a windowsill or a spark that catches a dry leaf that sets everything on fire. These subtly connected narratives provide a lucid understanding of what it means to observe one’s own transformation—one that is redolent with the terrible beauty inevitable from such an experience. These are stories that linger and hum with enchantment.”
—Sara Veglahn, author of The Mayflies and The Ladies
“Lascelles begins The Inevitable with the premise that the fabric of the blank page is the light upon which moths gnaw. Her poetics opens a mouth of moths, fluttering toward utterance, toward the light of day, toward death. The book’s second and final allegorical essay/poem moves through the conversation of consumption from the element of dust toward the element of fire. In both pieces, the mouth is our hinge point, the place of comingling, of creation and destruction, of history, of allegory, of elegy, the door to the haunted house of our human perception.”
—Andrea Rexilius, author of Sister Urn
“A woman contemplates ‘the pattern of terrible things waiting to drown her.’ A boy comes to grasp ‘the inevitability of certain trajectories.’ Meanwhile, dead moths pile up. Sticks scatter on the ground. Subtle and satisfying, The Inevitable moves through these parables of male violence towards unexpected ends. Lascelles is a deft guide in this troubled and troubling terrain, insistently holding space for our own illumination.”
—Erik Anderson, author of Bird
“Deeply expressive, visceral, and delightfully macabre, this little book is a gem. Lascelles’s exploration of desire, violence, and personal suffering is startling in its attention to the human interior. Like a dancer, the poet slips between worlds—delicate and brutal, quiet and insistent, shadowy and illuminated—weaving threads of duende, feminism, duality, and magical realism into what is truly a work of art.”
—Dani Barnhart, co-editor of Women of Poems for a New Feminism
80 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 4, 2021
I found this existential work of art to have many intriguing scenes set with deeply honest and beautiful language. I also felt it to be heavy, sad and heart wrenching. Interestingly, I recognized myself and others within some of its pages. But, I kept asking myself, WHAT is inevitable? Organic disintegration and Death, yes. Conflict in this life, and the need to reflect introspectively, to grow and cope with challenges, yes. But i disagree with the possible premise that the given result of innocence is always inevitably violence. I personally have come to terms with the fact that not everything in this existence is rainbows and butterflies, but that moths and fire do happen, and what is inevitable, if we will dare conceive to allow it, is love, in many many forms. So while the points made in this book absolutely are valid and indeed a possibility for some lives, its title “The INEVITABLE” is the only reason why I gave only four stars. I do highly recommend Lascelles book for its incredible imagery and its ability to deeply touch emotions rarely accessed, and for giving texture to decomposition, pain, loss, dysfunction, anger, conflict, addiction and death.
February 24, 2022
Jade is a friend of mine and I had the honor of hearing her read much of this gorgeous book in writing workshops. So much of Jade’s writing has stuck with me, and re-reading these passages in their published form did not disappoint. “The Inevitable” is beautiful and heart-wrenching, absorbing and moving. The pages flow like music and I found myself unable to put them down (and the book is short enough I didn’t have to).
September 28, 2025
The two stories of this book walk such a perfect line between saying and not saying what (I think) they represent. Jade's language is poetic but also narrative, it's just such a beautiful blend of duality: prose / poetry, light flutter / heavy weight, pain / release. I finished and then wanted to start it, feel it, all over again.
March 22, 2023
The growing of moths the spread of fire
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews