lowercase aesthetic by Riley P. Murdock

“Writing within the confines of social structures in life can be exhausting. Writing within traditional poetry structure, abiding strictly by the laws of grammar can suck the life out of a promising writer. Riley Murdock‘s ‘lowercase aesthetic’ reimagines what is possible when poets cast aside ivory tour expectations and write from the heart and from their own experience. This work serves as an introduction to the author; their memories, connection to cats, loves gained and lost and admissions to humorous crimes originally tucked away to take to the grave.

“Murdock reminds us that gifts from the heart can be given without elaborate wrapping paper, and phenomenal poems can reinvent the rules and go ‘untitled.’”

–Alexis Cameron Stark, author of “Learning to Sleep in the Middle of the Bed”

“Some of Riley Murdock’s poems are clear, cold breaths of fresh air. Others are pure fire. lowercase aesthetic is a dance, whirling from the grainy whimsy of nostalgia to the crisp, hopeful present, and then back again. In every line, love is present. To his fellow poets, Murdock says “thank you for bleeding/onto a page and sending it through the mail”. We’ll all surely be thanking him for the same thing once this book lands in our mailboxes.”

–Grace Carras, author of “Quiet Kid” and 2019 Mark Ritzenhein Emerging Poet Award winner