Samuel Ace’s I want to start by saying is a constellation of memory, personal and place-based histories, dailiness, repetition, art-making, and desire. Ace’s insistent titular phrase acts as drone and anchor—invocation and prayer—propelling the peripatetic narrator from Cleveland to New York to Tucson, western Massachusetts to Atlanta and back again, line by line. Part essay, part memoir, and part collage, Ace explores the difficulties of romance, childhood, betrayal, and writing, establishing each sentence as a location to begin anew; to utter, accrete, and break again.

Praise for I want to start by saying:

“This collection is an inventive, original exploration of eros, creative process, and trans and queer geographies of family and home… Hello to a new cult classic.” —Oliver Baez Bendorf

“Ace is a treasure, a true one-of-one—I’ll follow his ear anywhere.” —Kaveh Akbar

“Ace’s simmering, hesitant, protective attention works to bear the weight of secrets passed unsaid.” —Sarah Minor  

“Sam Ace takes on the phrase “I want to start” as metronome that turns daily reflections into mediations on longing and loss, memory and pleasure, luck, absence, and value… this book is trans at its core. It is homey, heartfelt, and utterly beautiful.” —Emerson Whitney

“This book is an incantation for us to sing on the road to God.” —Rebecca Brown

Bio:

Samuel Ace is a trans/genderqueer poet and sound artist. He is the author most recently of Our Weather Our Sea (Black Radish), Meet Me There: Normal Sex & Home in three days. Don’t wash. (Belladonna* Germinal Texts), and Stealth with poet Maureen Seaton (Chax). Ace is the recipient of the Astraea Lesbian Writer Award and the Firecracker Alternative Book Award in Poetry, as well as a repeat finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the National Poetry Series.

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