Emotion Industry, by Tracy Dimond

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Tracy Dimond's debut poetry collection, Emotion Industry, leverages pop culture obsession, communication theory, and humor to interrogate the absurdity of controlling feminine rage while living with an undiagnosed chronic illness.

"Tracy Dimond takes the reader on a journey through living with undiagnosed illness while trying to survive the world in a woman’s body—“so bent over from this leaning in.” She hints at the discomfort she feels in her own skin: “thinking about the body— / the reign of terror over every moment captured in / store mirrors” but reminds us “the privilege of / a bag of muscles and bones and fat / with a voice box.” Emotion Industry is filled with sharp images and a dry wit that sticks with the reader. Sagely, Dimond tells us, “Aging is deciding which system to buy into, / but I’m still searching for shooting stars.” This collection is a shooting star and the one I’m buying into." - Courtney LeBlanc, author of Her Whole Bright Life, winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize

Tracy Dimond's debut poetry collection, Emotion Industry, leverages pop culture obsession, communication theory, and humor to interrogate the absurdity of controlling feminine rage while living with an undiagnosed chronic illness.

"Tracy Dimond takes the reader on a journey through living with undiagnosed illness while trying to survive the world in a woman’s body—“so bent over from this leaning in.” She hints at the discomfort she feels in her own skin: “thinking about the body— / the reign of terror over every moment captured in / store mirrors” but reminds us “the privilege of / a bag of muscles and bones and fat / with a voice box.” Emotion Industry is filled with sharp images and a dry wit that sticks with the reader. Sagely, Dimond tells us, “Aging is deciding which system to buy into, / but I’m still searching for shooting stars.” This collection is a shooting star and the one I’m buying into." - Courtney LeBlanc, author of Her Whole Bright Life, winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize

"Tracy Dimond’s poems come from the place where ‘it girl’ and riot grrrl meet. They are smart, introspective, funny, and unsettling all at once—both wry observations and wails into the mic from a brilliant feminist voice that takes poetry, pop culture, and affect as seriously as they deserve to be taken." - Dr. Tonee Mae Moll, author of You Cannot Save Here and Out of Step: A Memoir, winner of a Lambda Literary Award and the Non/Fiction Collection Prize

"It’s the sarcastic micro-feminisms and anti-capitalist jabs for me. While reading Emotion Industry, I kind of feel like life is work. Except I’m with my favorite co-worker who is edging me to flee — to see beyond the billboards, find a wildflower to sponsor me, the sun of my expanse. There is a level of calm captured in the absolute of suffering, where a recovering animal discovers its cage. I imagine that world would be as precise as the voice in this one. Somehow, Tracy captures the immeasurable heartbreak in apathy and lands it in our body. - Amanda McCormick, Creator of THE HOUSE Handcrafted

Tracy Dimond is a 2016 Baker Artist Award finalist. She is the author of the full length poetry collection, Emotion Industry (Barrelhouse), and four chapbooks, including: TO TRACY LIKE / TO LIKE / LIKE (akinoga press) and Sorry I Wrote So Many Sad Poems Today (Ink Press), winner of Baltimore City Paper’s Best Chapbook. She holds her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore. Find her online at poetsthatsweat.com.

ISBN: 979-8-9850089-2-0

Photo Credit: Mollye Miller Photography