The Beautiful: Collected Poems - Paperback

Before she became an award-winning novelist, Michelle Tea wrote poems about life, love, and heartbreak

"Hers is an art of emotions and direct statements, casual and harsh at once." -Publishers Weekly

"A wonderfully light and simultaneously deep collection... Her poetry speaks with a disciplined and passionate clarity." -San Francisco Chronicle

"Tea writes with a raw-hearted, wry but wide-eyed ebullience, rendering dyke bohemia with intense, gritty, glittering romanticism." -San Francisco Bay Guardian

Before penning her contemporary classic novel, Valencia, Tea wrote wonderfully honest narrative poems, which she self-published in small editions, now collected here for the first time. These poems bring to life Tea's early experiences, from the challenging family home she left in Massachusetts, through college and Tucson sex work, to a more fulfilling existence in San Francisco, where queer activism includes risky affairs, alcohol and drug fueled adventures, and occasional self doubt. A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2004, a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, and a Book Sense 76 pick.