Still — Mila Cuda
Still, the first full-length collection from emerging poet Mila Cuda, is a confessional coming-of-age. Silenced at seventeen by a relationship that stifled her voice, Still comes back spitting “with a blood dried bark,” ready to make music from the misery. A meditation on adolescent angst, arachnids, and impulse tattoos, Still is punk in nature and in heart. Still traces the vibrant gush of new love and the persistent tenderness that heals us. With whimsical sonic texture and experimental forms, the collection explores the habits and health we inherit from our families, the songs that paint our memories, and the ways we find our will to still ourselves and still continue. Above all, Still is an ode to lesbianism.
Still, the first full-length collection from emerging poet Mila Cuda, is a confessional coming-of-age. Silenced at seventeen by a relationship that stifled her voice, Still comes back spitting “with a blood dried bark,” ready to make music from the misery. A meditation on adolescent angst, arachnids, and impulse tattoos, Still is punk in nature and in heart. Still traces the vibrant gush of new love and the persistent tenderness that heals us. With whimsical sonic texture and experimental forms, the collection explores the habits and health we inherit from our families, the songs that paint our memories, and the ways we find our will to still ourselves and still continue. Above all, Still is an ode to lesbianism.
Still, the first full-length collection from emerging poet Mila Cuda, is a confessional coming-of-age. Silenced at seventeen by a relationship that stifled her voice, Still comes back spitting “with a blood dried bark,” ready to make music from the misery. A meditation on adolescent angst, arachnids, and impulse tattoos, Still is punk in nature and in heart. Still traces the vibrant gush of new love and the persistent tenderness that heals us. With whimsical sonic texture and experimental forms, the collection explores the habits and health we inherit from our families, the songs that paint our memories, and the ways we find our will to still ourselves and still continue. Above all, Still is an ode to lesbianism.
Mila Cuda is a caffeine-sensitive lesbian from Los Angeles with an unmatched enthusiasm for spiders. The former Youth Poet Laureate of the West Coast, her work has been featured on Teen Vogue, Button Poetry, Rookie, PBS and Poetry Online. A two-time winner of The Charlotte Paul Reese Memorial Prize for Creativity in Poetry, she now lives in Somerville, MA, with her partner and the seasons. Still (Game Over Books, 2024) is her first full-length collection.