Field Study by Chet'la Sebree

Field Study

$19.00
Sale price  $19.00 Regular price 
Skip to product information
Field Study by Chet'la Sebree

Fsg Originals

Field Study

$19.00
Sale price  $19.00 Regular price 

Members save $1.90. Learn more about Membership »

Ready to ship in 3 - 5 days

Winner of the 2020 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets

"Layered, complex, and infinitely compelling, Chet'la Sebree's Field Study is a daring exploration of the self and our interactions with others--a meditation on desire, race, loss and survival." --Natasha Trethewey, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Memorial Drive

Chet'la Sebree's Field Study is a genre-bending exploration of black womanhood and desire, written as a lyrical, surprisingly humorous, and startlingly vulnerable prose poem

I am society's eraser shards--bits used to fix other people's sh*t, then discarded. Somehow still a wet nurse, from actual babes to Alabama special elections.

Seeking to understand the fallout of her relationship with a white man, the poet Chet'la Sebree attempts a field study of herself. Scientifically, field studies are objective collections of raw data, devoid of emotion. But during the course of a stunning lyric poem, Sebree's control over her own field study unravels as she attempts to understand the depth of her feelings in response to the data of her life. The result is a singular and provocative piece of writing, one that is formally inventive, playfully candid, and soul-piercingly sharp.

Interspersing her reflections with Tweets, quips from TV characters, and excerpts from the Black thinkers--Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou, Tressie McMillan Cottom--that inspire her, Sebree analyzes herself through the lens of a society that seems uneasy, at best, with her very presence. She grapples with her attraction to, and rejection of, whiteness and white men; probes the malicious manifestation of colorism and misogynoir throughout American history and media; and struggles with, judges, and forgives herself when she has more questions than answers. "Even as I accrue these notes," Sebree writes, "I'm still not sure I've found the pulse."

A poem of love, heartbreak, womanhood, art, sex, Blackness, and America--sometimes all at once--Field Study throbs with feeling, searing and tender. With uncommon sensitivity and precise storytelling, Sebree makes meaning out of messiness and malaise, breathing life into a scientific study like no other.
Book Details
Publisher:
Fsg Originals
ISBN:
9780374539023
Binding:
Paperback
Pages:
176
Authors:
Chet'la Sebree
Published Date:
2021-06-01
Language:
English
Shipping

Ships directly to you from our US distribution partner. US delivery only.

This title is printed to order. Printing takes 3–5 days before it ships.

Estimated total time for this book on its own:

  • Economy 6–13 days
  • Expedited 5–10 days
  • Priority 4–9 days

Orders with more than one book may arrive in separate deliveries. Pre-orders always ship separately once the book is released.

Returns

We offer a 30-day return policy, which means you have 30 days after receiving your item to request a return. To be eligible for a return, your item must be in the same condition that you received it: new, unworn or unused, and in its original packaging. See details on our Return & Refund policy.

About Chet'la Sebree

Chet'la Sebree teaches English at George Washington University. She earned a BA at the University of Richmond in 2010 and an MFA at American University in 2013. Mistress won the New Issues Poetry Prize and came from New Issues Poetry & Prose in 2019, going on to an NAACP Image Award nomination in poetry; Field Study won the 2020 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and appeared from FSG Originals in 2021; Blue Opening followed from Tin House in 2025, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in bisexual poetry and for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She formerly directed the Stadler Center for Poetry at Bucknell.

If this information requires correction, please contact info@thepoetryshop.com.

You may also like

If any information on The Poetry Shop contains an error that requires correction, please contact info@thepoetryshop.com