Wonder Wheel

Chelsea Whitton is a poet and essayist whose work has appeared in many print and online publications including Beloit Poetry Journal, Cream City Review, Copper Nickel, Cimarron Review, and Poetry Ireland, among others. She lives in southwestern Ohio and teaches at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

"Chelsea Whitton's Wonder Wheel is wide-ranging formally, tender in its depictions of family, startling in the evocation of violence, and calming in its grasp of the world's wideness." - Mark Jarman"Whether grappling with the tumultuous relationship between past and future selves, the grotesqueries of how femininity is constructed and performed, or the complexities of loss, Wonder Wheel is self-observant, candid, quirky, and poignant, full of unexpected gestures around whose corners lie profound discoveries." - Rebecca Lindenberg"Whitton's voice is virtuosic, knocking off poetic forms with a seemingly effortless bravado, while also slipping into the confessional intimacy of a late night on Brooklyn bar stools sharing clove cigarettes. This is a stunning debut that is profoundly joyful and deeply serious." - Jason Schneiderman"Full of spit and sass, contradiction and denial, the center of Whitton's wickedly off-kilter poetry churns with desire, her mind's maw swirling large as a sunflower's corolla." - Cate Marvin