Artists’s Statement:
These pieces are part of a sequence called Character + Flaw, which transforms and alters pages from a 1908 book called The Compendium of Every Day Wants or Practical Information for the Millions, by Luther Minter. The book is a rather joyless companion for American households with rigid gender roles. The poems are peppered with apologies, primarily women apologizing to men.
Carolyn Guinzio’s eighth collection, Cameo Blue, is forthcoming in 2026 from Carnegie-Mellon University Press. Earlier books include A Vertigo Book, winner of The Tenth Gate Prize and the Foreword Indies Award for Poetry Book of the Year, and Meanwhile in Arkansas (2025), winner of the Quarterly West Chapbook Prize. Her website is carolynguinzio.my.canva.site