La Belle Ajar by Adrian Ernesto Cepeda | Motivated Savages

La Belle Ajar

by Adrian Ernesto Cepeda

A collection of poems inspired by Plath’s 1963 novel that reimagines the journey of Esther Greenwood within the empowering odyssey of these 20 scintillating cento poems that honor the voice and legacy of Sylvia Plath.

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Sylvia Plath once said, “I want someone to mouth me.” La Belle Ajar is a collection of poems inspired by Plath’s 1963 novel that reimagines the journey of Esther Greenwood within the empowering odyssey of these 20 scintillating cento poems that honor the voice and legacy of America’s most influential modern poet and author: Sylvia Plath.

“La Belle Ajar, from CLASH Books, is superb, a flight into an ethereal sphere where Adrian Ernesto Cepeda’s words dance and the sublime cadence of Adrian Ernesto’s imagination keeps beat with the chorus of angels!”

— Jimmy Santiago Baca, winner of the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, and the International Hispanic Heritage Award, author of the memoir, A Place to Stand

“Adrian Ernesto Cepeda’s sensual, electric internal rhythms provoke external, communal ones too. And La Belle Ajar is not just an exercise in homage but a choreographed remix, a translation, a correspondence between words and worlds. Cepeda leaves the door open, in pursuit of readerly access and inspiration. This work vibrates.”

— Chris Campanioni, Editor PANK Magazine and author of The Internet is for Real

“Adrian Ernesto Cepeda’s LA BELLE AJAR is delightful, thought-provoking, and compelling. The lines are both conversational and fierce, lulling us into submission, and then chilling us to the bone at the same time: “she burst /out, I never said, I’m not/godlike.” Cepeda takes Plath, and digs in deep to her life, her struggles, her being, while inhabiting the world as it is now, while conveying the very strangeness of being at all: “I looked empty and subdued,/among the Gillett blades/paper scraps it occurred to/me, I must be idly dead.” This book is meant to be read and loved, with all its complexities, much like a human.”

— Joanna C. Valente, author of Marys of the Sea, #Survivor, and editor of A Shadow Map: Writing by Survivors of Sexual Assault

“In La Belle Ajar, Adrian Ernesto Cepeda has the philosopher’s stone. He changes Plath’s already-gold prose into 24-karat verse with a sleight of hand known only to the world’s greatest seers and fire-stealers. Cepeda does Plath justice here, in her own words, and accomplishes his goal of creating a companion piece to the novel in poems that crackle, pulverize, and shimmer.”

—Kim Vodicka, author of The Elvis Machine

“Plath’s eternal essence — her poetry of confessions, rife with details and darknesses — is woven throughout this La Belle Ajar. The drama, the particulars, and an unlimited glimmering of language oozes in each and every poem. The ghost of Plath seems to be conjured, to find reanimation, in Cepeda’s many inspirations. And while Plath is the muse here, of course, the work stands entirely on its own — unexpected, surreal, and alight. A true tribute, emerging into its own new shape.”

— Lisa Marie Basile, poet, editor of Luna Luna, and author of The Magical Writing Grimoire

“Adrian Ernesto Cepeda’s new book La Belle Ajar opens up Sylvia Plath’s words and gives them new life, ballooning up inside and splitting the reader between memories of The Bell Jar and a look inside the eyes of Cepeda’s reborn character who ‘looked at half-dark desire’ embracing an edgy, sexy vibe. This fresh discovery into each chapter of Plath’s novel is delightful, delicate, and consuming. With ‘eyes dancing water-color / firecrackers’ and ‘thick lips, dirty-minded skin’, you’ll fall in love with this new rendition of womanhood, desire, and seeing a woman come alive as she ‘began to thrive soft curiosity / flickering alive, flutteringly / loved in the dark garden heart / of New York.’ Lovers of Plath and those looking for a book to captivate in the thick honey of self-discovery don’t want to miss this release from CLASH Books.”

— Tianna G. Hansen, Editor-in-Chief of Rhythm & Bones Press

Book Details:

• Genre: Poetry
• Format: Paperback, ebook