REVIEW of Frances Cannon's Bitten by the Lantern Fly
Plus FIVE QUESTIONS with the author!
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Bitten by the Lantern Fly by Frances Cannon is a series of flash-length prose poems and micro-essays that constitutes a self-proclaimed love letter to Cannon’s partner, chronicling the first year of their romantic relationship, which coincided with the advent of the pandemic.
He’s a botanist; she’s a poet. They share an obsession with observing and naming the natural world. Ferns. Mushrooms. Beetles. Together, their world becomes larger than imagination, one nature walk at a time. Throughout, Cannon explores the uncertainties of new love and the equally tender considerations inherent in navigating relations with her partner’s ex while forging her own relationship with his young daughter.
WHAT WE LOVE
Cannon’s precision of language and attention to image are a delight to the senses. This book is a feast for those longing for keen observation and careful prose. Phrases like “mushroom fruit” thrill with their accuracy and invite the reader to revel in the abundance of nature. In this way, Cannon thoughtfully exposes an irony of the English language: we have such exacting, specific names for flora and fauna, and such imprecise, messy language to talk about our fears and insecurities and relationships.
The portrait of Cannon’s partner’s daughter is especially well-crafted. The reader cannot help but be charmed as the young girl so wholeheartedly takes up her father’s craft and shares his love for the natural world. A nascent family blooms before our eyes.
FAVORITE QUOTES
“Even when you’re sitting directly in front of me, you’re not close enough. I want to crawl inside your mouth, or maybe take a bite of your cheek, your jaw, your neck.”
“I want to see you pick a leaf and pull it close to your face, tenderly, like all that matters in the world are the floral curiosities of a walk in the woods.”
“Our idea of a hot date is a Sunday excursion to the science museum on the river to see the ‘Exquisite Creatures’ exhibit of pinned insects.”
BOOK DETAILS
Bitten by the Lantern Fly can be purchased here.
Published by Ethel Zine & Micro Press. The volume is 7”x 9” and comprises 50 pages of prose. The book is handmade with hand-stitched binding and features cover art by Clair Sage Jorgensen.
FIVE QUESTIONS WITH FRANCES CANNON
This chapbook is a love letter to your partner and also functions as a kind of journal of the first year of your relationship. How did this project get started?
I have been part of several writing groups over time, including a group of authors who challenged each other to write in short bursts of 100 words—we didn't restrict ourselves to any genre, so these could be prose poems, flash fiction, or micro-essays. The group included two poets and three essayists, so perhaps under their influence, I began writing these lyrical 'essayettes'—short vignettes.
*
You write about nature with such care. So many of your readers (us included) will envy your ability to name (seemingly) every natural thing you see. How do you view the theme of precision with language playing out in your work on a larger scale?
It's true—I find scientific language, particularly botanical language (Latin binomials as well as common names) to have an inherent poetry. There are so many unusual, humorous, and beautiful names for mushrooms, flowers, trees. I also enjoy writing and reading lists; a string of words together, with the occasionally surprising juxtaposition, can become a poem.
*
The narrative scope of this collection takes place, at least partially, during the pandemic. How do you see that era informing this collection, or perhaps shaping it?
I am sure that many readers will resonate—during the pandemic, I lost my sense of time and reality. Those years were particularly creative, perhaps because my 'normal' social patterns disappeared, so I had to find new ways to channel my mental energy. I have written and made art my whole life, but I look back on the pandemic and realize that I was more productive, and in novel ways, including this book. I wrote at least one 'essayette' each day, and then later culled and edited a smaller thematic selection from this cache of short essays, which became this book.
*
What are you working on now? Where do you find your curiosity gravitating?
I am juggling several creative projects; this is typical for me. One book that I have been writing and researching for about three years and counting is an experimental historical novel, which may or may not transform into a graphic novel if I can commit to it.
*
Okay. Hot take: What’s the most underrated mushroom? What’s the most overrated one?
The most overrated mushroom is the Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric. It's a striking mushroom with an interesting history, but I think it's overplayed in pop culture: tea towels, buttons, pins, t-shirts, stickers, and tv shows. There are so many other eye-catching, storied shrooms that deserve an audience, such as the indigo milk cap, or the adorable eyelash fungus.
***
BIO
Franky (Frances) Cannon is the Reviews Editor for Poetry Wales, a Research Associate of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, an editorial reader for The Kenyon Review, and an affiliated scholar at Kenyon College. Her work can also be found in journals and magazines, including The New York Times. Franky curates the digital publication queerflora.org. Read more at: frankyfrancescannon.com.
OTHER BOOKS
Queer Flora, Fauna, Funga (Valiz Press)
Vernal Thaw (Set Margins’ Press)
Fling Diction (Green Writers Press)
Walter Benjamin Reimagined (MIT Press)
SOCIAL MEDIA
Bluesky: @frankycannon
Instagram: @frankyfrancescannon
Substack: frankyfrancescannon.substack.com