Feral Mermaids by Shannon Webb-Campbell

Prepare for a deep-sea dive into a mysterious underworld of eroticism, rage, and renewal.

Acclaimed poet Shannon Webb-Campbell’s latest collection introduces us to feral mermaids, deceptive half-fish women who ruthlessly bite back against the patriarchy and colonial curses. Part myth and part magic, these defiant sea witches turn heads with their human torsos and finned tails, invoking sea gardens of chaos and inviting the stars inside for a nightcap.

Drawing on a fevered past, divine present and cast-off future, they thrive in the witching hour and possess the power to change the tides. They subvert and reclaim culture, calling across intergenerational wavelengths, their voices reaching backwards and forwards in time.

Evoking an Atlantic bohemian gothic, Feral Mermaids is a masterful and inventive work of imagination, blurring witchery and resilience, while conjuring a heady mix of folklore, tarot, herbal wisdom, and popular culture. With intoxicating power, these subversive sea women hold conch shells up to our ears and sing out for the matriarchy.

Praise for Feral Mermaids

“With its beautiful language and luminous intensity, Feral Mermaids immerses the reader in deep, shifting waters. These intricate and delicately connected poems explore waterways, history, witchcraft, shadows, and glamour to create a shimmering, unmissable collection.” —Tiffany Morris, author of Green Fuse Burning and Elegies of Rotting Stars