Dead Girl Cameo

“Dead Girl Cameo is not only an interrogation of the way society and celebrity culture fails girls, particularly those who are Black and queer; it is also a generous imagining of the lives that are possible when girlhood is protected and tended to. powell’s incisive use of persona and form force the reader to reconsider our perceptions of icons such as Whitney Houston, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, and Billie Holiday, while her evocative lyric asks us to examine our own longings, desires, friendships, and relationship to intimacy.”—Brittany Rogers, author of Good Dress

“‘I wanted to resurrect the girl,’ writes m. mick powell in the introduction to this wonderfully collaged collection of elegies and found text. The poems that unfold are formally vast, ranging from abecedarian to contrapuntal to cento, studded with perfect little jewels of looking, of feeling, of deep knowing. These poems haunt, and celebrate, and mourn, and, to borrow the poet’s own language, invent ‘other words for gold.’ I adore this book, and I look forward to seeing its work in the world.”—Safia Elhillo, author of Girls That Never Die

“An orchestra of tenderness marks the brilliance of this book. mick is a star.”—Camonghne Felix, author of Dyscalculia

“Through an innovative blend of queer feminist theory, collage, and docupoetics, powell pens a gorgeous elegy to some of our greats and revives them in perpetuity by countering their life’s violence with a love that is pure, queer, and infinite.”—Dr. Taylor Byas, author of I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times

“Dead Girl Cameo stitches many tender odes, counternarratives, and snapshots of Black girlhood—from the violence to the beauty of it—into the warmest protective quilt for its subjects. Every single poem radiates such care, love, and craft that I was left breathless, unable to stop reading until the end. Interview snippets and headlines from the archives spotlight the voices and stories of the stars Aaliyah, Whitney, and others, yes, but powell’s precision, wit, and sensuality make their own voice shine as a rising literary star. powell’s formal and lyrical prowess make Dead Girl Cameo a propulsive and genius debut that I’ll never stop thinking about.”—Jae Nichelle, author of God Themselves

“Dead Girl Cameo is a revelation, returning pounds of flesh to our fallen icons with a lyric pulse strong enough to resurrect. Its pages reach through the mycelial network of Black queer girlhood, recovering the fugitive eros of their lives. Full of expert formal play and thrilling collisions with the archive, m. mick powell’s brilliant debut is a gift to the living and gone, a righteous correction to the cultural record, and a tender elegy for all the girls we once and never were.”—Kemi Alabi, author of Against Heaven