Happy Sunday, readers, writers, and shark fans, and Happy August! (Augtober to those who celebrate, because WE DO.)
For those who have been following along, our team had sort of a weird June and July, so we’re kicking it up a few notches in August and declaring this our very own SHARK MONTH, and we’re also tackling The Sealey Challenge.
Founded by Nicole Sealey in 2016, August 1st marked the tenth anniversary of The Sealey Challenge… and something about it being the tenth year of Sealey, right after the tenth issue of Lit Shark Magazine came out, just feels SO RIGHT. The whole point of the challenge is to read more poetry during August, with an ultimate goal of reading 31 books in 31 days. Chapbooks, full-length collections, and, in our humble opinion, poems online when you can’t afford the full book—it all counts. Enjoy the poetry for the beauty of poetry, and you win!
Our Book for Day 1 of The Sealey Challenge:
The Bottom by Betsy Andrews
The Bottom: A Poem
Betsy Andrews
42 Miles Press (2014)
55 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0983074755
You can find an interview with Betsy Andrews on our website, and you can also read the review she wrote for The Rumpus.
If you’d like to read our thoughts on the book after reading it again in 2026, check out our brand new, baby shark Substack.
What to Expect on Substack:
While we’re just sharing the book recommendation here, on Substack we will share a mini book review, a few sample poems (or in Betsy’s case, a few sample passages, as it is a book-length poem), and several writing prompts.
Our Editor-in-Chief is also doing her own Sealey Challenge, so we’ll also be shouting out the books that she’s selected (guaranteed different titles and different poets), as well, if you’d like DOUBLE the recommendations this month.
We hope you’ll join us over there!
Best Ways to Follow Along:
Our website will have the book recommendation and where to find it.
Our Instagram will have a fun photo of the book in question.
Our Substack will have a slightly deeper dive into the work. (Today’s post is live now.)
Our Buy-Me-A-Coffee will keep a catalogue of the posts if you fall behind and/or want to support!
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