It’s a great delight to share Sarah J. Sloat’s metamorphic collage poetry and striking ‘poem boxes’ as our first guest poet of 2024! Her mixed media collages, erasures, and ‘poem boxes’ inspire and expand what one can express in visual poetry. When I interact with her poetry I feel reminded of the many possibilities in engaging in The Great Conversation with prior written work. The pieces are surprising and playful while exploring themes of constraint / expansion within the restrictions of artistic form and chosen materials. There is creation within the deconstruction of both boxes as canvas, and the dance of erasure via a pre-existing page of text. Sarah J. Sloat is known for Hotel Almighty, a book of poetic re-imaginings using Stephen King’s thriller, Misery for source material.

Sarah J. Sloat is the author of Hotel Almighty, a collection a visual poetry published in 2020 by Sarabande Books. Born in New Jersey, Sarah has lived for many years in Europe, where she works in news. Her poems, prose and collage have appeared in Seneca Review, Diagram, Quarterly West and elsewhere. Her second book of visual poetry is due from Sarabande in 2025. You can keep up with her at sarahjsloat.com and on Instagram at @sjane30.

-“Last Occupation” was previously published in Sugar House Review.
Source: Roughead, William. Classic Crimes. NYRB Classics, 2000.
- [You could hardly have missed …] was previously published in Escape Into Life, and appeared in the collection “Hotel Almighty,” from Sarabande Books.
Source: King, Stephen, Misery. Hodder & Stoughton, 1987.
-“Honeycomb” was previously published in The Rupture.
Source: Smith, Ali. The Accidental. Penguin Books, 2005.

Poetic Conversations: Guest Poet-Artist Sarah J. Sloat was originally published in ANMLY on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.