but for this mess Paperback – March 20, 2026

The fifty-seven poems of but for this mess represent nearly two decades of the author's collected works. Their subjects and inspirations range widely in scope, yet each poem reads with a clear-eye sense of place, time, and personal significance unique to its source. Through the agile and abstracted language of poetry, Cara Lorello recounts scenes from a rural upbringing in the Pacific Northwest observed from the back of a horse, on long-distance travels between estranged family, repeated bouts of mental illness, late-bloomer love and loss, up to her present existence as a day job-working poet. The result, however odd or imperfect, reveals an unfiltered portrait of a writer whose greatest challenge is the balancing act of meeting the demands of a puzzling world with her drive to create in spite of everything. Read more