A stunning chapbook debut from Kate Garcia, BARTENDING FOR A STAMP WITH MY NAME ON IT takes readers behind the bar to meditations with a splash of simple syrup, a wedge of cut lime, and the "piney smell of perfectly aged bills." Garcia reminds us what it's like to be young, searching, bound to certain restrictions, and completely free of others. What it is to alone but not lonely. In the center-piece poem, "Bartending as Mediation," the speaker's dog becomes the teacher, pushing her toward discipline and care; and away from "The Big Sad". There's joy in these poems, too. The title poem, "Bartending for a Samp With My Name on It," provides a glorious list of why one does it: "Bartending to drink a Red Bull. Bartending so the party never ends. Bartending to write about it." The collection concludes with an author Q&A, an excellent introduction to a new voice I'm sure we'll hear more from in the years and decades to come.
