Self-Romancing

Poetry bursting with intimacy and giddy charm.

In a tonal mash-up of Jenny Holzer’s Truisms, confessional poetry, and fortune telling, Self-Romancing draws you into the amorous and obsessive inner life of an unnamed romantic. Relatable and snarky, heartfelt and horny, L Scully fortifies irony with vulnerability, bringing readers into a narrative as intimate as slumber parties and ordinary as Trader Joe’s. Bursting with the giddy charm of the everyday, Self-Romancing plays with form, turning a book into a crush, a crank call, a manifesto."Part Nathalie Sarraute’s Tropisms, part Joe Brainard’s I Remember, this book pulses with electric sensation and stray-thought beauty."
—Nate Lippens

"The addictive reading of this brilliant poetry collection is a testament to the ears and breath aligned with the music L. Scully joins for us at every corner of our imaginations."
—CAConrad

"I’m enchanted by the voice of L Scully’s ‘self-romancing,’ the frisky and tender way they speak to themselves and their lovers, friends, dog. Each page reads like its own playhouse built by queer joy, grief, meditations on excess, and the risks and worthits of intimacy. I needed these spells, will keep them close.”
—K Iver, author of Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco

"In Self-Romancing, L Scully spills their guts with brutal clarity, humor, and astonishing precision. Unsparing and sly, this is a book that refuses to look away—and you won’t be able to, either.”
—Elaine Kahn, author of Romance or The EndL Scully is a living writer. They are also, first and foremost, a lover.