The Small Particulars - Softcover

Sweeney, Joellen

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798999386410

Publisher: Verdant Publishing, 2025

Synopsis

In her debut poetry collection, The Small Particulars, Joellen Sweeney invites readers to pause, look closer, and rediscover the overlooked wonders that shape a life. With language both tender and unflinching, these poems traverse memory, love, fear, grief, and resilience, reminding us that even the smallest moments hold infinite universes.

From childhood encounters with fairy letters, to meditations on wildfire, anxiety, and the multiverse of human connection, Sweeney writes with a clarity that is both intimate and expansive. Each poem becomes a loop of string laid gently around the overlooked, illuminating how the details we nearly miss can transform into landscapes of meaning.

Grounded in the natural world yet alive to the complexities of contemporary life, The Small Particulars resonates with anyone who has ever found solace in the forest, traced the arc of a falling star, or searched for beauty in the midst of uncertainty.

About this title

About the Author

Joellen Sweeney is a theatre artist, writer and teacher from Portland, Oregon. Her creative research focuses on environment; whether through whimsical, heartfelt writings, immersive and site-specific performance, or lush multi-layered vocal music, Joellen loves to create and support experiences that build connectedness between people and the natural world. Recent theatre credits include work with Artists Repertory Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Shaking the Tree Theatre, Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble, Northwest Children's Theatre and Renegade Opera, with whom she is a Creative Company Member. She is also a co-founder of Bedrock Theatre, a performance collective that combines storytelling, live music and hiking in parks and wilderness areas, and an Advisory Board Member at The Verdancy Project. Taking after her grandfather, Ben Sweeney, (who wrote a poem everyday for many years) Joellen writes essays and poetry when she's supposed to be doing other work. Her first poetry collection, The Small Particulars, will be published by Verdant Publishing in Fall of 2025. Joellen earned her Masters of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Washington's Professional Actor Training Program. She is also a proud alumna of Willamette University, the Third Rail Repertory Theatre Mentorship Program and the Shakespeare & Company Month-Long Intensive. When she is not at the theatre, Joellen enjoys singing, studying ocean science and hiking with her husband, Alec.

Edition details

• Publisher: Verdant Publishing
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798999386410
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 63