For my new poetry chapbook, A Spoonie’s Guide to Self-Acceptance (Bottlecap Press, 2025)
Reviews
FOUR STARS
“In A Spoonie’s Guide to Self-Acceptance, Kelly Esparza invites us along as she learns to live with a newly-diagnosed and life-altering chronic illness. Her heartfelt pieces explore the myriad physical and emotional challenges of adapting to life with lupus, challenges that will feel familiar to anyone who suffers. While not covering any new ground, this deeply personal chapbook is well worth a read for those looking for community, comfort, and support in navigating chronic illness life.” –Kristin Houlihan, author of Lift the Mask
FOUR STARS
Loved it! 😍
Esparza’s stunning poetic account of living with lupus is a rattling and gripping exploration of identity.
“Kelly Esparza’s powerful new chapbook A Spoonie’s Guide to Self-Acceptance is a deeply moving account of life with lupus. Though perhaps not as ambitious at it could have been in terms of poetic craft, Esparza’s collection chronicles, confesses, advocates, and empowers with an emotional precision that renders the lived experience of a “spoonie” with clarity.
These are poems that demonstrate powerful reflection of both the inner self and the physical body living with chronic illness. In moments of the collection, Esparza comments upon the feeling that mind and body are often at odds in the context of lupus. In “Host,” she writes, “My body and I used to be one and the same,/ but how do I connect with a body that does more harm than good?” Indeed, much of the chapbook takes up questions of identity as lupus challenges every aspect of the speaker’s orientation of self to the world around as well as within. But ultimately, the poems turn toward pride, toward empowerment. This is a collection that is ultimately hopeful and energizing, presumably to the author herself, but also to the reader who may be experiencing related challenges in living with their own chronic illness. There is resilience and perseverance in Esparza’s poetry. She not only illustrates these things but guides the reader in such encouraging directions.
Esparza could have taken greater risks formally and stylistically with this collection. The plainspoken diction and tight control of accessible lines undoubtedly contribute to the beautiful articulation of life with lupus. But as a collection so invested in the physical experience, in the embodiment of pain and grief and strength, this might have been an opportunity to experiment with the physical body of the poem on the page. The typed lines and white space might have engaged in more dynamic visual conversations. The grammatical structures of sentences might have exhibited greater strain, break, or subversion of the conversational in order to heighten some of the emotional registers of poems. But the overall effect of a sequence of conventionally assembled, yet starkly honest free verse remains stunning.
In short, while A Spoonie’s Guide to Self-Acceptance might have taken advantage of an opportunity to engage in greater experimentation with craft, the result of Esparza’s powerful writing is nothing short of brilliant. This poet has shared with her readers something profoundly personal and impressive in its raw honesty.” –Stephen Dundas, Reedsy book reviewer
Listings
Indie Story Geek
New Pages Blog Highlight
Add my chapbook on Goodreads!
Author Interviews/Journal Articles
Auburn Journal: Read here!
The Writer’s Workout: Author Interview Forthcoming Soon
Social Media Promotion
@Indieauthorfanclub IG roundup of new releases–mine book was included! See the post here!
NYT Bestselling author and Grammy-nominated singer Amerie shared my book on her Instagram’s Book Club account!
Newsletter Shares
Micromance Magazine where I have gotten my short microfiction and flash fiction published advertised my new poetry chapbook.
Five Minutes Lit where I have a short micro-nonfiction piece published from a few years ago gave me a shoutout for my chapbook.
Kelly Esparza 