unperfect: poems and photos from a hometown

unperfect: poems and photos from a hometown

“These are poems of ‘Natty’ beer, SpongeBob popsicles, shoplifting at Target, minimum wage jobs, skateboards, vapes, opioids, and ‘Adks,’ a nickname for the Adirondacks regionwhere this collection is set. They are also poems of moons, joyrides, kids jumping in piles of crisp leaves, ‘hot heavy air turning purple with the night,’ ‘light peeking in from the smallest opening in the trees,’ and “a forest fire/ which choosesits own path/ of deliberate ash.’ Like our country, Unperfect is full of violence and beauty, ‘flowers’ and ‘monsters.’ These poems and photographs don’t ask forgiveness or permission—they tell it like it is. And in this stunning debut, Aviva Lilith is ‘on fire for it.’” –Erin Murphy, author of Fluent in Blue Aviva Lilith’s unperfect, is anything but. These remarkable poems, grounded in North Country geography, paint a girl on the brink; smart, savvy, almost flippant. Yet underneath, a touching intelligence and vulnerability shines through. Whether shoplifting at Target, or going down on her weed supplier for a bigger cut, Lilith’s nicotine/drug/sex/ alcohol-infused reality makes for an unforgettable read. — Alexis Rhone Fancher, author of Brazen, Erotic: New & Selected, and Junkie Wife. In unperfect, Aviva Lilith reveals through raw poetic narrative an intimate emotional history of a small-town teenage girl seeking the perfection of friendships, of romance, of sexuality, of freedom, of independence, of protection while pursuing the “rush of danger.” Her recounting of Adirondack adventures that “were story book material” quickly uncovers the unperfect reality of those nostalgic ideals. It reminds the reader of earlier days when we too were “in search of medicine that does not exist,” when we “put loyalty above reality.” This debut collection is a quick and moving read, culminating in a conversation between her past and future self in which her future self assures, “it will feel so good as you start to heal.” Indeed, I look forward to more engaging words from Aviva Lilith’s future self. -Mary Oishi, Albuquerque Poet Laureate (2020-2022) Unperfect: Poems and Photos from a Hometown by Aviva Lilith is a raw confession of the streets and spaces we think we know, yet rarely see. These pages twist open snapshots, familiar but fractured, where each image breathes in silence before the next poem confesses, burns, and blooms into something urgent, something jaggedly alive. Aviva doesn’t just capture a place—she excavates it, sifts through its bones, laying out grit and light side by side. Every poem feels like it was found in a pocket left forgotten too long, each photograph a glimpse into a mirror reflecting places we’ve passed by but maybe never really felt. The hometown here isn’t idyllic; it’s imperfect, vivid in its flaws and sharp in its edges. Aviva’s lens lingers, and her lines cut through to a kind of truth that isn’t polite or clean. It’s beauty without varnish, reality without gloss. She invites us to step in and stay a while, to sit with the ruins and the wonders alike, knowing that sometimes, the best stories are in the cracks and shadows. Aviva’s world, beautifully unpolished, becomes impossible to look away from.