Dead Girl Cameo

“powell is a ferocious writer with an unapologetic voice. She explores how we treat our heroes, and what heroes do and do not owe us. The poems are odes to those we lost (Whitney Houston, Left Eye) and a reminder that we’re all hiding pain. Moving and refreshing. A knockout.”—Debutiful“In poet m. mick powell’s debut collection, Dead Girl Cameo, the deaths of iconic Black female singers and musicians—Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, Billie Holiday and Phyllis Hyman—go beyond the headlines. Powell resurrects their vivid lives and artistry to paint a more humanizing picture of their legacy while exploring themes of sexuality, survival, grief and stardom.”—USA Today“This lyrical and haunting debut poetry collection follows the lives of music icons, including Aaliyah, Selena, Whitney Houston, and more. It reflects on the work they have done that impacted the author’s childhood as a queer Black woman. These icons transformed more than just the music industry; their artistry shaped generations of fans beyond their time.”—She Reads“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“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.”—Brittany Rogers, author of Good Dress“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. 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.”—Kemi Alabi, author of Against Heaven

m. mick powell is a queer Black Cape Verdean femme, a poet, an artist, an Aries, and author of the chapbooks threesome in the last Toyota Celica and chronicle the body. Their poems have been nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology and a Pushcart Prize, and appear in RHINO, Muzzle, Up the Staircase Quarterly, and elsewhere. mick is a professor of gender and sexuality studies at the University of Connecticut and an adjunct in Bay Path University’s MFA in creative nonfiction writing program. A former Tin House Resident, she enjoys chasing waterfalls and being in love.