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Camille Chronicles
Travel through time, geography, and culture with Jennifer Lagier’s irreverent anti-hero, Camille.This collection takes you along for a wild ride as she traverses the wilds of Big Sur, the Barbary Coast, Spain, and her cottage near Monterey Bay. Camille presents a wry look at love and the ravages of age, politics, and pandemics. These poems invite the reader to join her bawdy, acerbic, humorous
journey as Camille, like so many women in America now, refuses to go down without a fight.
journey as Camille, like so many women in America now, refuses to go down without a fight.
106 pages, Paperback
First published October 4, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 16, 2021
We are the publisher, so all of our authors get five stars from us.
Excerpts:
CAMILLE AT THE MEDICARE WORKSHOP
As the consultant
draws on his flip chart
and blathers on
about drug plans,
deductibles,
Camille practices
five sets of kegels.
Craves margaritas
or martinis,
maybe a nooner.
Wishes her damp panties
were a reaction to arousal
rather than laughter.
Observes saggy old women,
pot-bellied men
in the chair rows around her.
Wonders why 65 juicy years
have ambushed her patience,
tautness, libido.
Blows off this workshop.
Sneaks out the back door.
Fires up a big doobie.
REBIRTH
“The birds still remember what we have forgotten…” —Terry Tempest Williams
If she could choose reincarnation,
Camille would return to earth as a blue jay,
bird equivalent of a crude uncle
who pinches women as they pass,
quotes Tucker Carlson,
farts at the table.
What a relief it would be to shed
delicate hummingbird manners,
bluster until she gets her way,
greedily gorge on every seed in the feeder,
sharpen her beak
against garden sculptures.
Camille would unleash her inner pterodactyl,
revel in self-entitlement,
take whatever she wants
when she wants,
intimidate sparrows and finches,
make frightened wrens scatter.
Excerpts:
CAMILLE AT THE MEDICARE WORKSHOP
As the consultant
draws on his flip chart
and blathers on
about drug plans,
deductibles,
Camille practices
five sets of kegels.
Craves margaritas
or martinis,
maybe a nooner.
Wishes her damp panties
were a reaction to arousal
rather than laughter.
Observes saggy old women,
pot-bellied men
in the chair rows around her.
Wonders why 65 juicy years
have ambushed her patience,
tautness, libido.
Blows off this workshop.
Sneaks out the back door.
Fires up a big doobie.
REBIRTH
“The birds still remember what we have forgotten…” —Terry Tempest Williams
If she could choose reincarnation,
Camille would return to earth as a blue jay,
bird equivalent of a crude uncle
who pinches women as they pass,
quotes Tucker Carlson,
farts at the table.
What a relief it would be to shed
delicate hummingbird manners,
bluster until she gets her way,
greedily gorge on every seed in the feeder,
sharpen her beak
against garden sculptures.
Camille would unleash her inner pterodactyl,
revel in self-entitlement,
take whatever she wants
when she wants,
intimidate sparrows and finches,
make frightened wrens scatter.
December 14, 2025
Camille Chronicles is bold, irreverent, and unapologetically alive. Reading these poems feels like traveling alongside a sharp tongued, deeply observant companion who refuses to soften her truths for anyone. Camille’s voice is bawdy, funny, and biting, but beneath the humor is a keen awareness of time, loss, politics, and the quiet ravages of aging.
Lagier’s sense of place from Big Sur to Spain grounds the poems beautifully, while Camille’s internal landscape is what truly holds your attention. There’s defiance here, but also vulnerability, especially in how love, illness, and uncertainty are handled without sentimentality. This is poetry that doesn’t ask permission to exist; it dares you to keep up. Wry, human, and fiercely honest, Camille Chronicles is a memorable and empowering read.
Lagier’s sense of place from Big Sur to Spain grounds the poems beautifully, while Camille’s internal landscape is what truly holds your attention. There’s defiance here, but also vulnerability, especially in how love, illness, and uncertainty are handled without sentimentality. This is poetry that doesn’t ask permission to exist; it dares you to keep up. Wry, human, and fiercely honest, Camille Chronicles is a memorable and empowering read.
September 21, 2023
I love this book. I love the voice. I love Camille. She is brave and brash and brandishes the truth whether you agree or not. We need more women like her.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews